


Can Love Really Stretch So Far?

by LittleMissSweetgrass



Series: Giant Alien Robots Can Get Sick? [4]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Accidental Bonding, Alien Biology, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canon-Typical Violence, Chronic Pain, Dimension Travel, F/F, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Non-Consensual Touching, TFP!Soundwave isn't the best when it comes to nice things, Transformers Spark Bonds, no rape this is a completely rape free zone but Cosmos has fears, not beta read we die like illiterate men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-03-06 03:03:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 41,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18842308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleMissSweetgrass/pseuds/LittleMissSweetgrass
Summary: Cosmos and Marissa get sucked into another dimension after some odd artifact is set off, and Cosmos' damaged and recently bonded spark isn't really handling inter-dimensional travel very well.Let's hope his conjunx Soundwave and the Autobots can save them before anything bad happens.Completely unrelated, but on the Nemisis, Soundwave of this universe would like to know why he is suddenly feelingAutobotemotions likeloveanddevotionthat isn't towards the Decepticon cause





	1. We aren't in Kansas anymore, except maybe we are?

**Author's Note:**

> I literally can't stay away from the TF:P series, or should be starting another multichapter while my first one isnt finished, but I've been humming and hawing about this one for a while and posting it might give me the kick in the butt to finish it lmao
> 
> This takes place after Cosmos and Soundy get hitched and are sparkbonded! I'll explain on how that is handled later on
> 
> Unbeta'd as always, so please let me know if you spot any mistakes!

The insistent pinging of alerts on his HUD forced Cosmos to online.

Which was an instant mistake because it felt like every sensor and pain receptor was on fire. He had no idea why because— oh look at that, one of those alerts was for a corruption of his short term memory files.

He let out a burst of high pitched static as his spark gave a particularly painful throb, feeling as if he was both being stretched too thin and being squeezed so hard that he was afraid his spark was going to fizzle out. He shifted his plating in pain, trying to alleviate the tightness he was feeling, as static makes its way out of his vocalizer again in a panicked whine when his spark fluttered weakly. In all of his vorns of practicing mass displacement, all those millions of horns in war, he never felt this kind of pain before.

“Cosmos! You're awake! Good, ok, you have to stay with me buddy, do you hear me?” A voice broke through the fear rushing around in his processor. It sounded small, familiar and organic, and… it sounded like it was coming from inside his hull? Slowly onlining his optics, and then quickly adjusting some settings because the glare of the sun above them, he realized he was in the middle of a field. The organic vegetation was flattened all around him from some sort of impact, probably his, since he realized at that moment he was in his alt mode. The shuttle former shifted his view inward and was surprised to see the owner of the voice. 

“…Marissa?” Cosmos’ voice was weak, laced with static. “What are… why are you…?” His processor kept stalling, the corruption to his memory files making him confused as to why Marissa was with him, and not Thundercraker like normal, and why he was in so much pain. Since he was in his alt mode, they must have been flying and crashed some how, but for the life of him, he could’t figure out why. Or why his spark felt like it was trying to stretch itself out when he was still minibot sized. He had stopped doing mass displacement… right?

“Cosmos, it’s ok I'm here, we’re both ok. I read your diagnostic report on your console and besides a rattled processor and some dents you should be fine. You had something called a spark surge, which was probably caused by the crash, but it seemed to work itself out so that your reports are reading stable.” She seemed relieved to hear him talking, even if it wasn’t in full sentences. He must have been out for a while. “What is the last thing you remember Cosmos?”

The bot thought for a few kliks, filtering back on his memory files for his latest complete file. “I was… with Soundwave, on the Sanctuary. We were… relaxing? He got a call from Jetfire,” His voice was becoming more steady as he continued. “He was needed down on Earth for a…. a consolation? You guys found something, and wanted to know if Decepticons had any information on it.” He frowned, pausing as he thought. “I came along.”

A jolt went through him. Of course he came along, the Conjunx Endure spark-bond between them was too new to be stretched so thin by long distance before it settled. That would be why his spark hurt so much now, Soundwave isn't anywhere near him, and the weak bond was looking for it’s other half.

“Thats good,” Marissa patted his console comfortingly, “Now what else?”

Cosmos stalled. There were more corrupt files and nothing was correcting them. So, he decided to guess and hoped anything cleared up. “I… It was that… device, right? That… thing started to spark and, um, someone yelled to run?” There was the impression in his mind that he was in a room with other bots, and humans, but the details were glitching from away from his grasp. “I, think I grabbed you, because… you were close to me? And shifted to fly us away, but.” He paused again, “But there was a sharp pain and bright light and… and I onlined here.” He gave a rattle of his platting, shaking out some stiffness and ignoring the twinge of pain from his spark. “Marissa, where are we? This isn’t where the device was?”

Marissa shook her head, hair falling out from her normally neat bun. “No, sorry Cosmos, I don’t know where we are. I was kinda hoping you could tell me.”

His processor gave another confused whirl. It looked like they were still on Earth, so why would _he_ know where they were on _her_ planet?

Oh, right, GPS. Duh. 

It took a few seconds, and he had to work around the warnings popping up on his HUD about the damage to his haul and to his processor, not to mention the searing pain still radiating from his spark, but he managed to boot up his GPS.

He blanched, “Why would we be in Kansas?” At least that explained why his spark hurt so much, Soundwave would be near the country’s capital, which was basically on the other side of the continent. 

“I have no idea Cosmos, why would that device transport us anywhere?” She sounded exasperated. 

“You think the artifact did this?”

“What else would transport us across the country!” She snapped, temper flaring for a moment before she steepled her hands in front of her mouth and took a deep breath, eyes screwed shut. 

Cosmos was a little hurt at being snapped at, and tried not to take it to spark. Instead, he used the silence to try and move certain aspects of his alt-mode, seeing if he was still flight capable. Thrusters were still functional which was good, but the com-links were down. Didn’t really matter, Soundwave would be able to hear his voice and locate them anyway. His landing gear was wrecked, and there while there wasn’t any breaches to his haul, the dents would cause problems if he tired to handle the pressure of leaving the atmosphere. His energy levels weren't bad either, a nice 83%. Soundwave would probably have a cube for him anyway when he showed up with the rescue crew just to top him off. Since fuel was more common and the ration had lessened, Soundwave didn’t like his bots to be under 80%.

With all that in mind he let out a short S.O.S data burst in Neo-Cybex into the airwaves. He made sure the sound wouldn’t be heard inside his haul, as he knew that sometimes their spoken language irritated human audials since most of it was too high to be comfortably heard in their hearing range. These glyphs had reassuring and loving sub-glyphs attached, those specifically for Conjunxs and Amicas, and were specifically asking for Soundwave, as well as giving his location, and a report of only minor damage. Hopefully hearing that will calm any anxiety his Conjunx has over the pain in their spark-bond. He remembered that Ratchet had told him once that his pain threshold for spark related pain was way too high, and what would be uncomfortable for him, would bring other bots to their knees. So if he was in pain, Soundwave must think he was dying. Oh wait-!

“Are you ok, Marissa? I forgot to ask but you're not injured or anything right? Do we need to find you a human medic?” He turned his focus inward again to see that Marissa had flopped into his command chair, and was now massaging her temples and muttering to herself. 

Her eyes peeled open, “I’m fine Cosmos, thanks for asking though. Just tired and hungry as hell. I was supposed to go out for lunch after Soundwave was briefed, and I skipped breakfast because of all the hassle the device created.” She heaved a great sigh, pulling and twisting her fallen hair back into the little bun on the top of her head. “I really regret telling TC I couldn’t take a break to try his attempt at human cooking now.”

Cosmos snickered. Once Brainstorm’s holomatter upgrades made it to Cybertron, a lot of bots on the planet were excited to play around with it. He remembered the videos Marissa sent to Soundwave of TC’s holomatter form just sitting on the floor hugging his dog and crying. Cosmos wasn’t the biggest fan of human physical aesthetics, but he liked how his looked with it’s tight red curls and warm dark skin. He even managed to make it share the same round shape of his root-mode, and dress it in green clothes that matched his colour scheme. Soundwave even made one after a whole week of pestering from his Cassettes— a human with head wrappings that covered the entirety of it’s face, and smartly dressed blue suit. They couldn’t really do anything with them on the colony mind you, but it was fun to use them when they visited Earth on the rare occasion. He personally enjoyed the feeling of human blankets.

“Should we go find you somewhere to refuel? I don’t know much about Kansas, but I'm sure there is a human town nearby where we can find you something?” 

Something about what he said made Marissa smile. She stood up and gave his command chair a fond pat. “Yeah, lets go, we can contact the base on our way to get food.”

Cosmos popped open his haul door, letting Marissa leave. “Already called for Soundwave, or any near by Cybertronians, so someone should hear me and pick us up soon. My com-links are down though, so I can’t contact anyone on base to confirm pickup.”

He changed his view outward just in time to see Marissa stretch. “Huh, knocked out your communication, but nothing else? That’s odd…” She started to fiddle with her own communication device and was frowning at whatever was on the screen.

Cosmos transformed and winced at the jarring noise of some of his dented frame pieces dragging against some of his inner components. The transformation wasn't that painful, but a flare up of pain burst from his spark at the movement, which made him a little uneasy on his pedes. Primus, he hoped Soundwave got here soon, if the pain bursts were all like this he didn't know how much more he could stand. Being hurt and away from other Cybertronians didn’t really help either. He knew he wasn’t really alone, but he wasn’t very close with Marissa and really didn’t like how the bond felt so thin. He felt lonely. 

Deep vents, Cosmos, take deep vents and just vent through the pain and the feelings. You can make an appointment with Rest-Q when you get back. Maybe even agree to see that therapist he’s been recommending. Remember, you’ll see everyone again shortly and the pain isn’t any worse than what you’ve already dealt with, if you can survive millennia of prolonged mass displacement, millennia of war, you can survive a little stretched Conjunx bond for a breem…

“You ok, Cosmos? You're breathing a little heavy.” Marissa peered up at him, balanced on one leg as she swung the other one in the air. Human stretches looked so weird, if he didn’t know any better he would have thought her leg was just hanging by its cables with how easily it swung back and forth. 

He ducked his head a little and shrugged, “Just miss my Conjunx. Anyway, I’m pulling up a list of nearby human refuelling establishments, how do you feel about…. ‘Big Mario’s Big Slices?’ Or ‘Ring-a-Wing? They're both about ten kilometres east of here. Both have about four-ish out of five stars on Google, but ‘Ring-a-Wing’ has a review that just says: “Their hot sauce fucked me up, I can’t taste anymore” and then rated it five stars.” He looked down at Marissa who was smiling up at him. “Honestly I think you should try that, it sounds exciting! Thundercracker was telling me all about how you humans eat anything, even if it’s dangerous for your bodies, just for kicks. So I think you’ll enjoy the experience.” 

She laughed at that. “Well if he’s going around saying stuff like _that_ , I’m glad I skipped out on his cooking then!” She walked up to him and patted one of his legs. “Sure, I haven’t had hot wings in ages. Just letting you know they're messy, so we’re gonna eat there cause I don't even want to think about cleaning wing sauce out of your upholstery.” She teased, laughing out loud even more when he gave a full frame shutter at the thought and leaned away from her hand. 

He was about to retort, when a brilliant swirl of green and blue light opened up in front of them and out stepped a group of unfamiliar bots, weapons drawn and ready to fight.

Cosmos jumped with a startled noise, millennia of war ingrained in his processor made him pull out his blaster and ready it before he fully comprehended the situation. He stepped in front of Marissa, hoping to shield her from any oncoming attacks. Nothing good ever came from a random space portal. 

It was once the bright light of the space portal died out that he realized he did know someone from the party. He quickly lowered the blaster and tried to stand a little taller out of reflex. “Oh, Optimus, you came! I didn’t expect you to come yourself sir, or from a portal?” He quickly looked at the other bots again, not seeing his Conjunx or any of the Cassettes among them, which was odd. Maybe Soundwave was hurt, but that didn’t explain why none of the Cassettes didn’t tag along to inform him. He didn’t know the other bots, but to be fair he didn’t normally spend a lot of time around his kind either and with their weird frame types they could be from the colonies or of Trypticon’s brood or something. The smooth streamline looks some of them were wearing were common with bots from Velocitron, he knew at least. “Umm, is everything ok back at base? I don’t see-“

The smallest bot stepped closer to him, pointing his wrist blaster towards his face. “Shut it ‘Con! We heard your transmission, we know you're working for the Decepticon Communications Division. So you can drop your fake Autobot act and tell us who you really are and what your mission is!” He snarled in his face, and it was only thanks to his wartime protocols that Cosmos didn’t reset his optics and audials after that nonsense he just heard. 

“Excuse me? Look, I don’t know who you are or what game your playing at but I don’t like being called a Deception. Sure I live on the Sanctuary, but that doesn't mean I’ve converted.” He huffed angrily. If this bot said anything about his Conjunx he was gonna ‘throw hands’ as Swerve would say. Soundwave wasn’t anything like he was during the war, none of them were anymore, and if some mechs couldn’t handle the fact that the war was over and Soundwave’s band of ‘Cons were different from what they were used to, then they were going to have a problem. 

He sent a ‘aren’t you going to do anything?’ look at Prime before ruffling his plating in annoyance as he only got a calculating stare back. The movement dislodged the little bits of earth vegetation and gravel from under his armour that didn't fall out during transformation earlier. The other minibot didn’t do anything more than snarl angrily. 

“Look,” Cosmos continued, “We’ve had a long morning, and my spark hurts so I wanna see my Conjunx, and Marissa is hungry so can’t we all just head back to base and I’ll take that nap I’ve wanted to take since I got on Earth and we can forget this whole event ever happened.” 

There was a small twang as Marissa gave his pede a slap with her gun. “Watch it Cosmos! You're getting dirt all over me!” 

He stepped a little further away from her, but not letting her be in firing range from the crazy minibot. “Oops, sorry.” 

“A human! The ‘Con’s got a human!” A yellow bot chirped in Neo-Cybex, the glyphs displaying disbelief, confusion, suspicion, and concern towards Marissa. His door wings twitched as he tried to get a better glimpse of her, which showed that he was either young or a civilian as he wasn’t in complete control of his reactions like other war veterans. Though, all the bots in this group seemed startled that a human was hiding behind him in the first place, optics wide as if they all were shocked. Cosmos missed seeing the Prime’s optics narrow in thought, as he gave his engine a threatening rumble of annoyance at the yellow bot. 

“I’m not a ‘Con! This is the last time I'm coming to Earth if all you bots stationed here are delusional and mean!”

“Oh my God, enough!” Marisa snapped. “Our communication lines are down, and that device left us disoriented and we need to check in with Jetfire to see why or how the hell that thing transported us here! To do that we need to get back to base!” She stormed past the safety of Cosmos bulk and snarled at the blue minibot. “Move aside!” When the blue bot did nothing more than blink in surprise at Marissa, she gave an irritated growl, sounding like that dog Thundercracker carried around. “I said MOVE! I don’t care who you are, or what you do, but I won’t have you threatening diplomatic ambassadors on _my_ planet in front of _me!_ So get out of our way or I will find a way to remove you from my path!” 

With that, the blue minibot gave a startled look over to Prime, and once he got a nod, moved back behind the taller bot with the rest of the group, looking shell shocked. The rest of the group also looked alarmed, probably not used to having someone so small boss them around. Which meant they probably weren’t from Earth or been here long. Definitely not any of Trypticon’s newsparks if they didn’t know Marissa. If anyone was able to get bots moving, it was the human that once called Prime an idiot to his face and routinely had to deal with Starscream's and Elita-One’s scathing personalities. 

Prime stepped forward that stern, calculating stare snuffing out any annoyance Cosmos was feeling before and the green mini felt his struts stiffen on reflex. Faint panic pushed through the rest of the pain in his spark as the Prime walked closer. The Prime towered over him, since he was back to his natural minibot size and Cosmos now stood just past his hips. Still, there was no hostility in the Prime’s field, just firm contemplation, even with a human barking at him. He looked down to address Marissa.

“I believe there may be some miscommunication happening, complicating this situation tenfold on both of our sides.” His voice was a calm, even rumble, and Cosmos was a little weirded out. In all the time he worked with the Prime, he never sounded this calm, this even. 

Marissa gave another sound of annoyance, and dragged her hands down her face. “Ok, yeah, I can see there is an issue here.” She clapped her hands together, “Ok! Prime, what happened after the device went off? Cosmos and I were transported here across the country, but what about the base? Are the scientists ok? Did Jetfire have anything to say about what happened?”

Some confusion seemed to clear from the Prime’s optics. “Ah, I think I can see what is happening here. You say you were involved with a device, some sort of artifact that transported you to this area? Correct?”

Cosmos nodded dumbly, his spark sinking a little and he didn’t quite know why. “Correct.” Marissa snapped, folding her arms and staring Optimus down. 

“And you know who I am?” 

“Of course we know who you are? You're Optimus Prime? The chosen Prime, the true heir to the Matrix of leadership, blah blah blah. We literally saw each other on Cybertron about two Earth weeks ago? You were with Ironhide, Chromia, and Windblade at McCadam’s, and Windblade came over to buy me and Sky-Byte a drink while we were waiting for Soundwave’s meeting with Blurr to be over? You were pretending to ignore me the entire time” What was going on? His spark throbbed and Cosmos winced as he tried not to rub at his chest. Primus, he wished Soundwave was here. He’d know why Prime suddenly lost his processor, and he would make the pain go away. 

“You annexed my planet for our ‘protection’ and now I have to deal with this insanity every day of my life because it’s associated with you Cybertronians and all the drama you create!” Marisa threw her hands into the air. “Of course we know you, Optimus! Stop asking stupid questions and tell me what happened to my base and what I need to do for damage control!”

“Very well, I will get to the point then.” He gave a rough rumble. “I am of the firm belief that you are no longer on your version of ‘Earth’ anymore, and this device you speak of sent you to our ‘Earth.’” At this he looked Cosmos square in the optics, “A world where we have never met, this device was never uncovered, Cybertron has fallen into ruin, and our civil war has not yet ended. We have been fighting the Decepticons for millennia now, and our forces on both fractions are spread thin throughout the known universe. Our people are on the brink of extinction, and are not publicly known to your people.” He spoke this last part down to Marissa. “The crimes you say I committed towards your people have never happened here, on this Earth, and I can tell you that they never will come to pass. I believe in the free will and rights of all sentient beings, and conquering a planet such as this, especially with living beings who act as our allies, is something I will never do.” This last part was spoken with such finality, such calm reassurance that you could feel the weight of the words in the air.

The green minibot stared at the Prime. Was he serious, another dimension? His optics flickered over the taller mech, taking in every detail that now looked off: weird kibble placement, different frame shapes, and now that he noticed, his optic components were different too- there was no translucent protective lens. Cosmos rubbed at his chest absently as he leaned to peer around the Prime at the group standing behind him. He could see now, that all of their frames weren’t just strange colonist fashions, but strange because they belonged to a whole separate dimension. 

“You’re kidding me.” Marissa stared up at Optimus, eyes hard.

“I am afraid not, Miss Marissa of Earth. However, if you are both truly willing to aid the Autobots while you reside in this world, we will offer you sanctuary for the time being.”

“Optimus! Your not just gonna let them come back to base with us! They could be lying!” The big green bot exclaimed.

The smaller yellow bot glared up at his green friend. “We’ve dealt with dimension stuff before, we could help them! If they're trapped in our universe we should help them anyway, it’s the Autobot thing to do!” 

Cosmos frowned, while he really didn't like these bots, and still felt uneasy around Optimus, they didn’t have a lot of options. He couldn’t reveal himself to humans here, and he knew his alt mode was strange and alien-like to humans so hiding without help wasn't the best option. And until he got fixed, he couldn't just putter around the atmosphere either, not that he would want to leave Marissa alone on the planet. He looked down at the female human and saw that she was looking up at him too. She motioned for him to bend down and pick her up, so he did, placing her on his rounded shoulder.

“What are you thinking, Cosmos. Should we trust them?” She sat down, placing one foot on his collar and one hand gripping the fin on his shoulder for support. They both watched as the Prime’s companions argued amongst themselves on wether or not they should be allowed near their base. The Prime looked on in an almost fond exasperation. 

“I don’t know, I’ve never been in this situation before.” He rubbed at his chest again, “I remember once, when Cliffjumper got wasted off high-grade and started telling these wild stories about how he once jumped dimensions where the Autobots were evil and the Decepticons were good and everyone swapped paint colours. Apparently Thundercracker was a real eyesore, painted his frame every colour of the rainbow and then some. ” Marissa turned and look at him weirdly. “Yeah, that’s what we all thought. But these guys don't seem evil.” He hummed, “Or ugly, honestly. But for real? I’ll go along with you for whatever you choose. Doesn’t seem like we got any other options but to follow them, though.”

Marissa sighed, “Yeah, the way that blue one is acting, they’d prefer us to be prisoners than guests.” She gave a snort, not fazed at all by their distrust.

With that she sat up a litter straighter and waved at the Prime, getting his attention. Once he looked over the other bots quieted down, waiting for their response. 

Marissa looked him square on. “We’ve decided to come with you, Optimus Prime. Thank you for your hospitality and hopefully we’ll be gone before you know it.

Optimus nodded, “Then we welcome you both to our base.” He must have opened a com-link cause the next words weren’t spoken to them. “Ratchet, open the ground bridge to our coordinates, and we are bringing guests.”  
____________

The little drone watched as the glow of the ground bridge faded. It was quite a ways from the crash site so it wouldn’t be noticed unless it was focused on, but close enough for visual and audio input on the Autobot conversation. A ground bridge opened up before it and it wasted no time gliding into the portal. 

Once on the other side, it flew in a neat circle and docked itself onto the chassis of its master. 

The silent bot made no sound or movement except for the drumming of spindly digits on the control panel. Their visor flashed with the sped up recordings the drone made. They were, of course, watching live, however the repeated information made it easier to pick up on details they passed over before. 

How curious.

This was not the outcome Soundwave predicted when he sent out one little investigation over an Autobot coded message left on the airwaves for himself, signed with overly familiar glyphs. A messaged that came shortly after a large, random, brief, and untraceable energy spike. However, he also didn’t know what to truly expect either. 

But an Autobot and it’s pet human from another dimension? An Autobot that registered with parts of his own spark frequency, something he could feel every time the Autobot winced or rubbed at it’s chest. It was like a pull, a light fuzz of static, that seemed to draw him towards this little, green, spaceship. Something that started after that energy spike opened and a UFO streaked through the sky near the Nemesis. It was nothing like he had ever felt with another bot before, and not exactly like his bond with his drones either.

Even more curious.

His visor cleared, and he went back to typing on the console keys, as if nothing was amiss.

He would have to hunt down this little spaceship before he left. It wouldn’t do to have potential weaknesses laying about in the open like this.

__________

Cosmos didn’t know what to expect when they walked through the ground bridge, but a human army base wasn’t it. 

“I thought you guys said the humans didn’t know you were here?” Cosmos asked, glancing around. 

“Only the human army of this country, and some human friends! We’re supposed to be hush hush to only a few, but got discovered.” The yellow bot was definitely young, as he practically bounced around Cosmos. “You’ll like the human children! They’re really fun and know a lot of games and are surprisingly helpful on missions!” 

Cosmos gave the bot a side opticed look. He decided not to translate what the bot was saying to Marissa, he didn’t really know her stance on human children being involved with Cybertronians. He knew that the Wreckers had their own young human companion, and that Ratchet, Bumblebee, and Sunstreaker all worked with human children too, even if it didn’t turn out for the best. 

Instead he just gave an attempted smile and a murmured, “I’m sure I will, they sound great.” Marissa didn’t comment, instead just looking around the base, so Cosmos decided to follow her lead.

The place wasn’t very big, so far at least, and knowing humans he figured it wasn't going to be much larger. He wondered if there were separate rooms where all the bots recharged, or if they all slept in their alt modes in this main hanger. It seemed… cozy. Especially since he was used to the vast openness of deep space; the Lost Light, which was large enough to fit hundreds of bots with still more space so it didn’t feel crowded; or the Sanctuary, which was not so empty any more but still felt bigger because of all the open windows. There wasn’t a window in sight here, and suddenly Cosmos was starting to feel slightly claustrophobic.

“Stop doing that, Cosmos, you're starting to rub your paint off.” Marissa chided him, slapping a hand down on his shoulder.

“Huh? Oh,” he looked down at his hand, and saw he was rubbing at his chest again, and she was right, he was starting to leave paint transfers on his chest, short red stripes along the green. “Oops.” 

A white and red bot stomped over towards them, a device held in his hand like he didn’t know if he wanted to throw it or stab them with it. “Is there something wrong with your chest? Who knows what damage inter-dimensional travel could cause to the spark.” He grumbled, waving the device up and down the minibot’s frame. “By the Allspark! Your spark readings are off the charts! How are you not in stasis lock by now?!” He looked horrified and hurriedly guided, but mostly shoved, Cosmos towards the little medbay berth stationed by the consoles. 

“You mentioned that your spark was hurting before, did you not?” Prime rumbled worriedly nearby, watching the medic bully his newest patient. 

“He said he was experiencing spark pain and you didn’t automatically bring him here? Optimus, I expected you not to act this foolish!” The medic snapped and glared at the bigger bot. 

“They could have been spies! They could still be spies! They shouldn’t be here, Ratchet!” The blue minibot hissed angrily, stubbornly watching them from where the ground bridge closed. 

“Your name is Ratchet?” Cosmos asked changing the subject because he really didn’t want to get into that again. He reached an arm up to gently move Marissa away onto some empty berth space. He quickly eyed up the medic. He certainly seemed like Ratchet— grumpy, pushy, and in complete control over everybot now that there was a medical emergency. He never saw Ratchet in an Earth alt, but it looked like this was close enough to the appearance he was familiar with, just with the strange frame details these bots had.

“I am. Autobot CMO and Prime’s personal medic.” He huffed, eyeing Marissa briefly, before huffing again and tapping Cosmos’ wrist port. “Open up I need to see your diagnostics.” Once he plugged in and began shifting through the information he began mumbling to himself.

The younger yellow bot perked up, walking closer towards the small medbay without actually stepping in for fear of getting in Ratchet’s way. “Did you know Ratchet from where your from?” He chirped.

Cosmos wondered if the yellow bot only knew Neo-Cybex, or had something wrong with his language cortex like Rest-Q. “I did. He was my medic aboard the Lost Light.” Cosmos grinned behind his mask, eyeing the medic out of the corner of his optic. “He ran the medbay with an iron fist and spent the entire time either drinking at Swerve’s, or chasing Rodimus and Drift around threatening to lock them in medical induced stasis if they try racing down the hallways ‘one more time!’” He mimicked Ratchet’s irritated grumble, which got a laugh out of the yellow bot and Marissa. 

“God, Rodimus was a handful and I’ve only met him a couple of times.” She laughed, “I don’t pity his command staff at all.” She snickered, probably imagining the stress Megatron, Ultra Magnus, Drift, and Ratchet had combined when dealing with the energetic Prime and his heroic grandeur. 

He noticed that the rest of the bots looked confused, and saw the large green one mouth “Rodimus?” at the smaller blue bot. Oh, right. Rodimus might still be Hot Rod here. Hum, he might have to talk to Marissa about that later.

As he was thinking about the younger Prime, he remembered when Soundwave had sent word to Ravage that he would like him to swing by Jupiter for the Bonding ceremony. Rodimus immediately invited himself, and the whole several hundred members of the Lost Light crew. He flew the entire Lost Light over and tried to give a Prime’s blessing for the union, something that was considered a grand and valuable gesture to Autobots. Honestly, Cosmos was touched when he found out, as it was a tradition and a status symbol that upper class bots had before the war, and something he kinda wanted. 

But, the whole ordeal caused a huge argument between Soundwave and Rodimus, as he didn’t understand why Soundwave would rather die than allow anything “upperclass pre-war” into his Decepticon Bonding. Or why he didn’t want Megatron within a solar system of the Sanctuary, let alone there for his personal Bonding ceremony. They eventually settled for allowing Rodimus to give them a gift, something he acquired during their travels and one of his ridiculous Rodimus Stars in place of the Prime’s blessing. Megatron was also banned from setting foot onto the Sanctuary, but the little shuttleformer knew Rewind was recording the whole thing to show his captain later. 

Cosmos had actually missed the entire argument because he with Ratchet aboard the Lost Light, as the medic wanted to do a check up to make sure Cosmos’ spark was stable and strong enough to form a Conjunx bond. Which it was, his new medic Rest-Q had made sure of that, but Ratchet was never comfortable leaving other bots in charge of anyone he considered “his patients” and wanted to double check. He basically told him what Rest-Q had said: that they had to play it safe and stay close for almost the entire settling period, and then some, to ensure proper spark health.

Cosmos frowned a little at that memory. He supposed that travelling to another dimension would go against Ratchet’s and Rest-Q’s orders. He hoped that whatever damage his spark got from this wasn’t too bad. Actually, could the stress of this early separation kill him if he stayed here long enough? He suppressed a shudder, what a chilling thought.

The medic spoke up, breaking through his thoughts. “Hmm, it seems you're right, I was your medic. All of your recent medical records have either my signature signing them off or some ‘Elite Guard field medic,’ named Rest-Q.” 

There was a touch of disbelief in his tone at the title. Maybe because the Elite Guards didn’t exist during the war here, like back at home? Cosmos knew that the position had been recreated by Starscream early on during his reign. Except now, they protected not only governmental figures, but acted as more experienced police forces for the general public as well. Not to mention that anyone could join their ranks, not just the elite classes or whoever threw enough shanix at them like it was pre-war. Most Cybertronians shied away from applying for the jobs and even protested the positions at first, but they were a hit with a lot of the colonists, which made a lot of mechs more comfortable with the diversity within the government and its policing forces.

The medic continued. “And there are some very believable comments.” 

He glared at Cosmos then, and the minibot shrunk into himself at the intensity. “What a stupid thing you did! Continuous, long-term, mass displacement?! With an illegal HUD modification for your spark readings! Then you engaged in a Conjunx Bonding ceremony not even a century into your recovery? I’m surprised your spark hasn’t shattered by now with how you’ve been mistreating yourself! No wonder you're in pain, I’ve seen bots die from this sort of thing from only doing it for a few years, let alone the multiple millennia you’ve been doing it for!” He shouted this last bit, angrily waving his servos in the air and scaring away the young yellow bot from the area. 

Cosmos gave a weak chuckle, “You said almost the exact same thing last time you found out.”

The medic harrumphed. “Then I’m glad my title as ‘the mech with the only common sense in the galaxy’ is still in play wherever you're from.”

The small blue mech narrowed his eyes suspiciously. A safe distance away from the angry medic mind you, but also still looking like they were one wrong movement away from leaping at him and tearing out his fuel pump. “How to we know that those medical files aren’t tampered with?”

Ratchet rolled his optics and disconnected from Cosmos’ port and spoke before the affronted green mini could speak. “Please, I know tampered med files when I see them. Everything in those files are something I would recommend if he was a patient here. Which would require vast and specialized knowledge of spark function and theory, which is as rare as a fresh energy well in Cybertron’s Pits these days.” He gave a snort, and eyed Cosmos’ chest. 

He opened some drawers and fiddled with something before pulling out a syringe full of light blue liquid. “This is energon laced with a very powerful -but temporary- pain blocker. It should help with the residual spark fluxes and ease some stress without permanently altering your pain receptors, which I would not recommend with your condition. Now, give me a fuel line.”

Cosmos eyed the suspicious liquid. “Why is it blue?” Energon wasn’t normally blue, unless it was treated with something else, and he knew from personal experience that pain blocking nanites didn’t effect the colour that much. 

That got several deadpan stares. “…Cause it’s energon?” Ratchet made a swipe for the minibot’s arm which was dodged at the last second. 

“No, energon is pink.”

“What?!” Ratchet boggled, placing the syringe on a nearby trolly. “What do you mean it’s pink?”

Marissa gave a hum as she regarded all of this. “Energon is pink in our universe. Trust me, I’ve seen enough of it.” She tilted her head and looked thoughtful for a moment, “Though I did have a conversation with Aileron that Camian energon was a different colour for some reason.”

Cosmos ignored the strange looks they were getting from the other bots. “Here, let me show you.” The shuttlecraft shifted some of the frame panels away from one of his arms, exposing the wires and energon lines. The bright pink liquid coursed through the major lines into micro lines that disappeared into the circuitry. 

All the bots were crowded around to see the strange energon. Ratchet was muttering to himself, scanning the exposed lines and even going as far as using a clean syringe to take a small sample. Cosmos frowned at the action but didn’t really mind, he knew it was best to just let the doctor do his own thing and complaining would only make it worse. 

“I don’t know about all of you, but this is more than enough evidence to prove he’s not from this world.” Ratchet’s voice sounded distant, focused mostly on the syringe, tilting it this way and that.

After that things seemed to ease up. Ratchet shooed the other bots away from his makeshift medbay and began to gather the needed supplies to pull at dents and weld minor tears on his new patient.

Sensing that it he was no longer going to be shot at any suspicious movements, Cosmos relaxed. He reached into his subspace and pulled out his medication container and handed it over to Ratchet for inspection. “Here, this is the stuff my medic gave me for my spark.” He pointed at the bottle with the green sticker, “Those ones are for pain, if you’re really worried. How much should I take?”

Ratchet popped open the bottle to look at the pills inside. He pulled one out, eyed it, then read the prescription, humming. “Take two. That would be the same dosage I was going to give you.”

The medic handed over the two pills and Cosmos popped them in dry, making Ratchet frown. The bot went back to investigating the other pills in the case, muttering at some of the ingredients he saw. “Benjisidrine?! How do you have this? The major ingredient used to create this drug ran out at the end of the golden age!”

Cosmos shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know? If it’s not on Cybertron, then it must come from the colonies? Or we traded it from an organic one?” He looked down at Marissa who looked like she was thinking, “I know we aren’t on good terms with the Galactic Council, but I think we’re finally off their banned trading list?”

“Incredible,” Optimus rumbled from nearby, where he was still listening in on the conversation. “That is a momentous feat, as I can only imagine the destruction to the organic worlds of your universe committed by Cybertronians during the civil war must be equal to ours.” He looked upset, as if he himself was to blame for the war in two separate universes. “Your leader must be an invaluable diplomat.”

Cosmos grimaced at that, and Marissa gave a sharp peel of sarcastic laughter. Their reactions startled the other two bots, confusion being broadcasted onto their fields and faces.

“Oh my god, ‘an invaluable diplomat,’” Marissa gave a chuckle. “No, I spoke to the Council on behalf of Earth, as a Cybertronian organic colony, which helped. Some of the other colonies were on good term with organics too, so I don’t think our ‘invaluable’ leader St—“ Cosmos nudged her, shaking his helm. Marissa frowned up at him, continuing, “Our ‘invaluable’ leader… did much work. The speech he gave was nice, but I honestly doubt he wrote it himself, and you could tell he didn’t really believe what he was saying. Much too kind and sympathetic towards organics for anything genuine.” She huffed, rolling her eyes.

Optimus and Ratchet shared a glance, looking a little uneasy at the blatant omission, but letting the moment pass. Ratchet returned Cosmos’ medication and set to work on repair. Optimus didn’t go anywhere, watching over the small group and acting as a buffer between them and the rest of his team.

Marissa watched Ratchet work silence for a while before getting bored and turned to the other Autobots that were talking amongst themselves. 

“So, we never did get a proper introduction. My name is Marissa Faireborn, I work on behalf of the UN as Earth’s first interstellar ambassador and hold a seat on Cyberton’s Council of Worlds.” She quirked a smile, it was a little mean. “Which basically means I don’t let your kind bully us around for our energon resources.”

The baffled looks the bots gave her made Cosmos chuckle a little. It was hard to believe that a human bossed anyone their size around, but he had seen her verbally tear down the most terrifying Cybertronian leaders he knew.

He waved his free hand at the others, “Cosmos of the Manganese Mountains. I was an Autobot spy and I guess I work as a secretary and consultant now.” That last bit was mostly just him talking to him self. He didn’t really have a function on the Sanctuary besides helping Soundwave, taking calls, offering an Autobot view on how to deal with something, and monitoring minor stuff. 

The yellow bot gave welcoming chirps and waved at Marissa. “I know you can’t understand me, but I’m Bumblebee, Autobot scout! Nice to meet you.” 

That made Cosmos jerk, causing Ratchet to complain. “You're Bumblebee?!” Cosmos was floored. He looked so different here, and he was alive—!

Marissa looked just as surprised as Cosmos. “Bumblebee! But—“ She closed her mouth, and stared hard at him. No doubt she was thinking all the same things as Cosmos, and both knew better than to say what they were thinking. “Sorry, it’s just, you look so different here.” She said instead. 

Bumblebee gave an excited whirl, door wings flapping away. “You know me?” His tone indicated a happy question while he pointed to himself.

“Yeah, I met you once or twice. And the bot I take care of as a refugee on Earth used to talk about you a lot as well, apparently you were friends.” Before you died, left unsaid. “You are a lot shorter where we’re from, and rounder.” 

This younger version of Bee just gave a happy whirl, before gesturing to the larger green bot. “Go on! Introduce yourself, Bulk!”

The bigger green bot shuffled his pedes for a moment, before giving a short wave, a more awkward greeting than his friend’s. “Name’s Bulkhead, I’m part of the Autobot task force called ‘The Wreckers.’” He motioned at all of the bots in the room. “All of us now are part of Team Prime stationed here at Earth, though. Oh, and he’s not here, and he might honestly not show up while you're here, but there is another Wrecker on Earth too, my buddy Wheeljack.”

Marissa gave a little head tilt at that last bit of information, but just gave a firm nod and a, “Nice too meet you, Bulkhead.” 

Cosmos was worrying about the implication of Wheeljack being a part of that violent group. Did he manage to weaponize his explosions and become some sort of battle scientist? Preceptor in his Wrecker mode was terrifying enough, but the thought of Wheeljack as anything near as cold an calculating really worried him. And why wasn’t he with the rest of the team here?

The smallest bot spoke up next. “Name’s Arcee, and I don’t care who you guys are, but if I catch you even talking with the ‘Cons here—” She made a threatening gesture, mostly directed at Cosmos. Unfortunately for her, Cosmos lived with ‘Cons so the threat didn’t faze him.

He sat up straighter though, ignoring Ratchet barking at him to stay still. “Arcee? You look so different here! You were basically my commander back in our world. Right hand to the Prime, and our toughest warrior!” He smiled a little, not that it would be shown except for the curving of his optic band.

That soften her for a moment, but that steel was back in her optics. Now her personality made sense, she wasn’t just angry and defensive, it was just Arcee, smaller but still holding that same fierceness that she carried back at home. He wondered if Aileron was in this universe, it would be nice if this one would be softened by love too. Much less snappish than she was before. Bumblebee mentioned something about human children being around, and Cosmos wondered if this Arcee was just as soft towards these children like his Arcee was with Trypticon’s brood.

After the introductions the air felt a little lighter. Bumblebee offered to take Marissa out to get some human food so she wouldn’t have to go hungry, and was delighted to find out that Marissa did actually understand Neo-Cybex. Optimus said he would give their human representative an update on the situation to see what they can do to make Marissa’s stay in the base easier. After fixing his minor wounds, Ratchet got started on studying Cosmos’ energon.

“I need to make sure our energon won’t have a bad reaction on you. With how delicate your spark is right now, I don’t want to add any new stressors that might worsen its condition.” He then just started typing onto a console and waved the shuttle off. “Go see Arcee or Bulkhead about syncing to our comm. systems.” 

He was very, clearly being dismissed, so Cosmos just hopped off the table and stretched out his cables. The pleasant burn of his freshly repaired struts being stretched and hydraulics hissing with released pressure sent tingles up and down his sensor network.

His spark protesting with needle like pricks of pain wasn’t so welcome. He rubbed at his chest again. Primus, he hoped Soundwave was ok, could he even feel him? Cosmos tried to tug on bond, to let Soundwave know he was still there, but he couldn’t feel his Conjunx. What he did feel felt like static, a light fuzzy buzz of tingling sensors that covered his entire spark like a thin bubble. Like an out of range radio in deep space. 

It felt like being alone.

“Hey little guy,” a large servo reached out and grasped Cosmos’ own, startling him out of his thoughts. He looked up and saw, uh, Bulkhead was it? The bigger green bot had this confused but sad look on his face as he held the smaller servo gently. “You ok? You started digging at your chest again. Didn’t seem to hear us when we called out to you.” 

Startled, he looked around, and saw that Ratchet was eyeing him again, like he was going to strap Cosmos on the berth and reexamine him. Optimus was over by Arcee, both looked a little concerned as well, the former more than the latter. Cosmos avoided their gazes and saw the mess he was making of his paint job on his chest. Scrap, he couldn’t keep it cool for five whole breems before he made this team think he was a loose cannon. You got to keep it together Cosmos he hissed at himself, you’ll see Soundwave again, stop acting like a lovesick newspark! He’s probably working on getting you back right now, and not bemoaning over this like an idiot like you are.

Before he could explain himself, Bulkhead pulled on his servo and dragged him towards one of the hallways. “Let’s get you all set up. I’m sure I have some spare green paint around, and I'm sure Bee wouldn’t mind if we stole and mixed some of his yellow paint to try and match your colour.” The smile he gave him was a little more comforting. “Then we’ll get you set up into the system and clear you out a spare room too sleep in. Do you need a berth or do you prefer to sleep in your alt-mode?” He faltered a little bit, “Not that I think you’re gonna be here long, but just for the short term, yeah?”

Cosmos gave the servo a companionable squeeze before letting go and following behind the big bot. “Yeah, I’m sure we’ll be out of your circuits before you know it. I’m sure our scientist Jetfire is doing everything he can to get us back home.”

____________________

Its been three weeks and Cosmos was going to strangle Jetfire when he saw him again and demand what took so long. Like, it took less than a second to blast them into this alternate dimension, it surely shouldn’t be so hard to get them back? 

But no, he had to sit here for several weeks doing nothing but twiddling his thumbs, wondering why it was taking them so long to get them home. Really, if Wheeljack and Jetfire couldn’t figure something out after a day or so, they hopefully would contact the Lost Light and get Preceptor and Brainstorm’s opinions, which should speed up the process? From things he heard, isn’t this sort of thing something the two scientists deal with on a regular basis? Especially Brainstorm, that bot was a few screws short of becoming a mad scientist. 

Marissa, unfortunately, seemed to be having a stressful time in this word. While Cosmos thought of this little trip as something of a depressing holiday- so used to the mishaps of the Lost Light and Sanctuary- Marissa saw it as extra work to be done.

Shortly after they settled down in the Autobot base, a “human delegate” named William Fowler blew in, huffing up a storm and ranting about how annoying it was that there was another Autobot he had to “take care of.” Marissa didn’t like that, but let the man take control seeing as this was “his” Earth. 

Cosmos personally didn’t like that he had to explain to Fowler that no, he wasn’t a Decepticon because he could fly. That, no, he can’t actually just change his alt-mode to be something with a less conspicuous shape, that’s not how that works. He was a shuttle former: he needs an alt that is capable of easy space travel, also something small and rounded to fit his natural frame shape. Earth doesn’t have anything like that in this universe, so he’s gonna stick to his Cybertronian alt, he doesn’t care what you think or how much trouble that might cause the small human.

She seemed to take personal offence at Fowler heckling someone she considered “her alien robot,” something Cosmos found flattering. He didn’t know if it was because they were from the same universe, or if it was because he was Conjunxed with Soundwave. A bot who tried his best at appeasing the small human female by doing things like paperwork she asked of him, or letting her borrow vital crew members, and his own Cassettes, off the Sanctuary so they could be actors for human films just because she asked. Or maybe it was because he and Soundwave actually read Thundercracker’s scripts and were mechs he called friends and visited the Sanctuary every once in a while to find 'inspiration' for his new script. Cosmos found that humans were very social creatures, and trusted and liked others based on the opinions of their friends, so maybe it was because the pair were nice to Thundercracker that this protective streak ran through her for himself. 

Anyway, this lead her to completely dress Fowler down, claiming he was absolutely incompetent and a disgrace to any human army and government. Letting human children do the work of grown humans, not fully understanding how the aliens inhabiting his planet function, not acquiring better anti-Decepticon forces, and how she could run his department better deaf and blind with her hands tied behind her back. Optimus actually had to stop that fight before it got physical. Cosmos just smiled under his mask and enjoyed the show. 

The human children showed up the second day both he and Marissa were trapped in this strange universe. She already knew about them, as apparently Bumblebee had already warned her, and calmed her down about the idea as they got food for her the day before.

Once the kids saw him, they flocked to them like heat seeking missiles and haven’t let go of him since. Apparently Autobots don’t fly for some reason in this universe let alone designed for space travel, so the kids were all excited to go on flying trips. Which they also haven't stopped asking him for since he took them out once on a short fly in the desert area surrounding the base. They didn’t go very fast or very high, as Bumblebee demanded he go with them, mostly to keep an eye on things, but he made up for the boring flight by doing some air tricks.

Actually, handling the kids at first made him a little uneasy, since he didn’t know what he could tell them and what he couldn’t and the fact that they always walked too close to his pedes. But, once he started to treat them with the same mentality he had with Soundwave’s bunch- small, loud, annoying, never where you last saw them, like to hang off you/use your body as a perch- Cosmos found that he ended up enjoying their company a lot. It helped that they all lost their collective minds when he showed them he had a hard light, human, holomatter form they could actually interact with. Unlike the soft light projections the Team Prime used here. 

One of the reasons he hadn’t taken the kids out for a real flying trip was that Ratchet isn’t too keen on letting him out of the base for long periods of time, but not for the reasons the others have. The others are worried about Cosmos blowing their cover with his Cybertronian alt mode, and how freaked out humans are about aliens in circular ships already. So Cosmos has been “encouraged” to stay close to the base and fly low to the ground in uninhabited areas so he won’t be as visible when he does need to fly. ‘Cause every bot knows how bad it is for fliers mental health to be grounded.

No, Ratchet has been trying to keep Cosmos in the base as much as possible because he hasn’t found a way to make this world’s energon safe for him yet. 

The longer Cosmos is trapped here, the lower his fuel gauge gets. He has another cube in his subspace - a habit from the war days where he wouldn’t know how long he would be in space for. However, he is a shuttleformer, which means he is fairly fuel efficient. Especially compared to the heavy duty or racing grounder frames that made up Team Prime. Neither of these facts help with the knowledge that he could go into stasis-lock within an Earthen year if he doesn't exert himself too much, doesn't find another energy source, or doesn’t make it back home. 

Little trips to the planet’s atmosphere only shorten that already narrow timeframe. So less taxing flying trips until then.

So for the past three weeks the grounded shuttleformer has been helping Ratchet around the base: manning the ground bridge, cleaning the main area, organizing the Med bay, keeping the children entertained when they couldn't go on missions, and doing maintenance throughout the base because they still haven’t properly fixed things after they had a scraplet infestation? Honestly, it felt like he was almost back on the Sanctuary with the tasks he was given, and he kinda welcomed them.

Marissa was busy too. She was the one that mostly worked with Ratchet on ideas on how to get them home, or offering Fowler training or ideas on how he can improve his department against Decepticon attacks or the MECH terrorist group. She spent a lot of nights coming back into their shared room, and flopping onto her little berth and complaining about how incompetent Fowler’s soldiers are and all the drills she ran that day. She was also collaborating with Optimus and helping his team with missions they go on, something about ancient Cybertronian artifacts that might help get them home or just not be a good idea to let Decepticons get a hold of. 

But Cosmos knows how badly being separated from her team is effecting her. During their second week in universe hopping, she could barely sleep at night. She kept tossing and turning and all the rustling was keeping Cosmos awake. Not that he was wanting to recharge. He spent most of the nights tugging on his spark bond and pretending he’s feeling someone tug back through the static.

“Cosmos, are you awake?” The hushed whisper in the darkness broke through his depressive introspection.

He brightened his optics and peered down at the little human berth in the corner of the room. From the light of his optics, he could see Marissa was tightly wrapping her berth coverings around herself. She looked tired, the bruises under her eyes looked even more harsh in the blue light. Her skin, from what he could see, looked even more pale than normal, something that broadcasted “poor health” in both humans and Cybertronians. Maybe she should see Team Prime’s human medic? The other human woman seemed nice enough and seemed to know what she was doing when the children got minor scrapes and bruises. Maybe she would know of something to get Marissa to go to sleep.

“What’s up?” Cosmos replied in an equally hushed tone.

The woman shifted around on her berth until she was sitting upright. Her bare legs were crossed and she quickly rearranged the coverings to, well, cover her exposed legs. She tightened her grip on the cloth and looked up at him pleadingly. 

“I really can’t sleep. I keep thinking of home, and how worried everyone must be, and what Thundercracker must be doing.” 

She looked away, pausing and taking a deep breath. Cosmos stayed quite, just watching her. This was the first time in two weeks that she's even mentioned any feelings about missing home. He had mostly spent their nights together complaining about missing his new family, the bots aboard the station, and his Conjunx. He knew she needed support right now, so he just listened and waited for her to organize her thoughts. 

“He calls me every day, you know? When we’re apart? Talks about his day and his silly stories and his dog—“ Her voice gave a small hitch, and Cosmos sat up realizing she was in actual distress. “— I just keep thinking about his big, dumb face, all sad. He’s lost so much, and doesn’t really have anyone besides me that he spends a lot of time with. And I didn’t realize it until now— now that he's gone— that I miss the big blue idiot.” 

Cosmos got up and crouched near her, scooping her up in her cloth bundle and just holding her close to his spark. She leaned into his warm plating, shaking a little with emotions. He ran a digit up and down her back in a motion he’d seen Thundercracker do with his dog. He gave his engine a little rumble, something that would help to calm down a Cybertronian, and would maybe work with humans too.

“I keep expecting my cell to ring, and it’s gonna be his dumb, happy voice telling me about something cute Buster did, or asking for help understanding a human custom for his writing, or—“ She shuddered, leaning into Cosmos even more and he gave his engine a deeper rumble. “I don't know, how his visit with Skywarp went or something. But it doesn’t, and he’s not here, and I don’t know why that’s bothering me!” 

She took a heaving breath and Cosmos cooed, chirping at her and holding her close to feel the vibrations from his chassis, trying to comfort her like he would with Soundwave. His Conjunx wasn’t good with emotions either, and sometimes would have these little breakdowns when everything he bottled up would spill over.

They sat there for a while, Cosmos just chirping comforting sounds at her as she tried to gather her bearings. After she seemed to calm down a little more he spoke, “Hey, why don’t we go for a fly? I find new scenery always calms me down, maybe it’ll help you?”

She gave a little wet sniff, “Sure, why not.” She didn’t sound really into the idea, but went along with it anyway.

Cosmos gathered the extra berth paddings and coverings and swaddled her in them, carrying her out of the room. In the main hanger, Ratchet was alone, grumbling to himself over whatever was on the console. When he heard the mini’s pedesteps he looked up, frowning.

“You two are supposed to be in bed.” He gave them both a critical look, and Cosmos felt the fuzzy sensation of a light medical scan being run over his frame. Marissa bundled up deeper in her covers, probably not wanting Ratchet seeing her so vulnerable.

The mini shrugged, “We couldn’t sleep, I figured a short flight around the base might help. Maybe seeing some stars. Spent so much time in space that it’s weird being cooped up underground. Marissa didn’t want me going alone.”

Ratchet huffed, turning back to his console, satisfied with whatever answers he got. “Well she's right, you never know what or who is out there. Make it a short flight, and don’t stray too far from base! If you’re not back in two hours I’ll come out and bring you back myself, and you do NOT want me doing that. Do I make myself clear?” He gave the mini a sharp look as he walked past him towards the main entry hatch.

Cosmos nodded, “Absolutely crystal!” With that he sped up a little down the long hallway. He could just hear Ratchet’s mutterings about “young, antsy, flight frames— going to make me go grey” when Marissa spoke up from her cocoon. 

“Cosmos, thanks for covering for me.”

The mini just shrugged, “Don’t worry about it. I’m more than used to bots that can’t handle feelings, so I know that bringing attention to it makes it worse. And Ratchet is the kinda bot that would definitely bring attention to it.” He lifted Marissa to peer at her covered face. “If you don’t want to talk about what you’re going through it’s ok. But, you have been listening to me whine since we got here, so I’ll always have an open audial for you if you need it.”

She reached a hand out through the covers and gave a quick pat on his mask. “Thanks, Cosmos.”

By then they exited the base. In a quick motion, careful not to pull on any of her coverings, Cosmos shifted around her and shot off into the air.

That night he did about thirty minutes of flying and spent the other hour and a half just sitting on one of the large rock formations staring at the stars and listening to Marissa. They chatted for a while, Marissa psychoanalyzing herself and Cosmos giving her some examples of Cybertronian concepts to help her theories, before she past out. She was curled up on Cosmos’ chassis, bundled up in her blankets and stealing his frame warmth like some type of cyber-cat.

As Cosmos starred up into the stars- stars that looked so similar here compared to his version of Earth- he could almost forget he wasn’t in the same universe anymore. Just the constant buzzing of his spark reminding him of how far away he really was.

He tugged at his spark bond again, pushing all his lonely feelings and longing at that staticky haze. He was beginning to feel numb, the lack of response, the lack of feeling from that bond was beginning to mess with his processor. Ever since he was bonded, ever since Soundwave offered him a space aboard the Sanctuary really, he hated being alone. He never liked being alone to begin with, but now that he had a taste of that comfort, of that companionship and adoration that was now a constant in his spark, he loathed being alone again. He would kill just to feel that—

He gave a startled gasp when he felt the bond pull in his chest. It was more like a yank, a definite confirmation of forceful static telling him that someone was there. 

“Wah…Cosmos? What’s going on?” Marissa sat up, wide awake again and looking around to see what startled her companion. 

Ignoring her, he quickly tugged again. Hope, love, and wonderment being pushed from his side toward that tug. Was Soundwave here? Did they manage to hop dimensions to rescue them?

He waited a minute, but when nothing seemed to be returning he started to fret. Did he dream the feeling? The static around his spark didn’t feel any different, maybe it was just a spark flux that made it feel different? He felt himself sag a little more into the rock beneath him, disappointed. 

“Cosmos?” Marissa called again, confused.

“Sorry, I just realized that— that it’s about time we head back to the others. I had an alarm set and I must have been dozing a little when it went off.” For some reason, he didn’t want to tell her about the pull. Afraid that he might have just imagined it and not wanting to make a big deal out of nothing. 

She gave a yawn and a little pat on his frame. “That’s ok, we better head back anyway.”

Once they got back to base, he settled Marissa and her things back onto her berth, and stepped out for a moment to talk to Ratchet. The old medic was still at the console, typing and muttering equations to himself. Cosmos felt a little bad for interrupting again, but the memory of that pull made him step up to the other bot. 

“Hey Ratchet, how would we know if the bots from our universe came here?” Cosmos began to rub at his chassis again, a tick he did when he normally thought about his Conjunx bond, or was experiencing spark pain again. It was that motion that caught Ratchet’s optic and made him turn around to face the smaller bot.

“Well, when you arrived there was a big spike in energy, almost like an energon blast reading. Shortly after that, we caught your broadcast signal with your co-ordinates. I imagine, when these bots of yours come to our world looking for you, that same blast of energy will happen again. I have several monitors running, hooked up to notice and give an alarm to any type of similar energy spike going off. So far we haven’t gotten anything of worth back yet.” He eyed Cosmos’ chest, running another medical scan. “Why, did you feel something?”

Cosmos shrugged, feeling embarrassed. “No, well, maybe? I thought, briefly while we were out, that the other side of the bond pulled back? I’ve been trying to pull and send information through since we got here, but all I’ve felt has been static. So maybe I’m just, I don’t know, going a little crazy from the lack of response and imagined it or something.” 

Ratchet stepped over and placed a servo on the one Cosmos was using to rub at his chest in his distress. The paint had been rubbed off again, and the grey base metal was peaking through the green and red streaks. Ratchet looked tired, but sympathetic. 

“The Conjunx bond is a powerful thing. Something that connects bots so deeply that their sparks become one, and are so intertwined that they can never really break apart. Even if one bot is on the other side of the universe, even if one dies.” His voice was soft, and Cosmos stared, enraptured. 

“Parts of their spark will always be with you, even if a new bond is formed,” The medic’s voice sounded a little troubled at that, a little guilty. Cosmos’ mind flashed to the last time he saw Chromedome aboard the Lost Light, how he was with this new-not-dead Rewind. “You will be together again as one in the Well of Sparks. So I would trust the bond, maybe that bot of your’s is getting close to coming to our world.”

Cosmos wasn’t a very religious mech— and honestly hearing Ratchet talk about the Well of Sparks as if it was real was super weird— but he did feel comforted by this little speech. 

He thanked Ratchet and went back to his berthroom, and for the first time in two weeks, he fell asleep easily.

_______

Soundwave felt another wave of frustration wash through him as there was another tug at his spark. 

That little spaceship, the Autobot from another universe, was calling for him again. Pathetic emotions seeped into his spark from the bond that had somehow formed. Longing, loneliness, love. 

Disgusting. As if he would ever love an Autobot, or even entertain the idea of willingly bonding with one.

It had been twenty-three Earth day rotations since that little spaceship had shown up. At first the sudden bond between them was interesting, a little puzzle to figure out. Now though, it was an annoyance. Every rotation, sometimes several times a rotation, the little spaceship would tug and pull and push his pathetic emotions into his spark for attention. Distracting the Decepticon TIC from whatever important tasks he was doing to actually run this warship and her crew. 

Currently, he was forced to listen to Starscream prattle on about some flagrant lie and ego boost, something he had tuned out a while ago. He really didn’t know or care about what the seeker was talking about, and the only reason he hadn’t physically left was because he knew Starscream would just follow him until he felt like his point was made. 

So this meant the tug at his spark couldn’t have come at a worse time. Starscream, true to his glitch-rat like nature, could sniff out the moment he had let any type of emotional weakness slip into his field. 

The seeker paused in his speech and stared at Soundwave. Was there was a flicker of fear in his optics, why—? Oh. How nice, he must have thought that Soundwave was frustrated at him. How annoying that his emotional response was caught, but maybe he could get the seeker to frag off for a while.

“Soundwave, are you quite alright?” The seeker fluttered his wings nervously, but stood his ground. How droll.

Soundwave tilted his helm and decided to walk away from the SIC, not wanting to deal with the Autobot bond with him around. 

In retaliation, something petty and beneath him to even acknowledge the bond even existed, he gave a sharp, disciplinal tug on the bond. He made sure no emotions leaked through, not wanting the Autobot to think he was worth prying any personal response out of him.

Unfortunately but really not unexpected, Starscream followed him down the hall, still prattling on about something worthless.

“—I’m just saying, perhaps you are overworked, Soundwave! Not to say you are becoming sloppy in your efforts, no no! Just, everybot needs some time to de-stress, and maybe it will be good to shoulder off some of the responsibilities you carry onto other, equally capable bots, hmm? Why, I can think of some jobs that I would be more than willing to—“ 

Starscream cut himself off and jerked in surprise as Soundwave’s steps faltered for a brief moment.

Soundwave meanwhile, just had his entire spark flooded with love and adoration and so much emotion that even Laserbeak was feeling embarrassed on behalf of her host at the display. The overwhelming rush of emotions shocked him into stalling his processor for a klik, just letting that warmth wash all over him. It felt a little nic— no. 

Nip that train of thought right in the aft. He, Soundwave, Third in Command of the Decepticon armies, head of Communications and Special Operations Divisions, and Lord Megatron’s most trusted ally, was not growing soft towards this pest of an Autobot.

He continued walking, maybe a little faster to try and shake Starscream. He really wanted the seeker gone so he can have his emotional turmoil in peace. 

Starscream followed still, a little slower, definitely more cautious. “…Perhaps you should see Knockout, my friend. While I admit, he is not the best medic we could have gotten, he is quite capable enough to do a quick medical scan to make sure everything is running… smoothly.”

Soundwave stopped and turned to face the SIC, ignoring the recoil the seeker gave in return at the sudden movement. He stared down the bot for a moment, enjoying seeing his wings nervously twitch as the silence lingered. 

Humm, maybe the glitch-rat did have something of value to say. He would borrow one of Knockout’s medical scanners and see if this Autobot bond was infecting him more than he thought. 

He inclined his helm towards Starscream in thanks, then turned away and continued down the hall.

This time, thankfully, Starscream didn’t follow him.


	2. Having a heart makes most people unhappy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The non/con warning is for some unwanted touches, but nothing happens dont worry, this fic isnt going to go over the teen rating uwu bb  
> Title is inspired by this quote: “I think you are wrong to want a heart. It makes most people unhappy. If you only knew it, you are in luck not to have a heart.” ― L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

After that night last week, the static laced yanking on his spark bond was much more frequent. 

He let Ratchet know whenever it happened, which was no more than twice a day. The feeling was always the same: a wall of static with no feelings or thoughts coming through. It was always forceful too, like his spark was being jerked around and sometimes it _hurt_.

Cosmos complained about this to Ratchet, how this yanking was nothing like how he was used to. His Conjunx was never so forceful with him, and how his light tugs were always accompanied with love or other warming emotions. But the medic just waved it off, writing it off as an interference through dimensions or something. Like his Conjunx needed to be more forceful to let his presence be known and break through the static haze. Because what else could be mistaken as a Conjunx bond?

Cosmos had his doubts. He knew that Soundwave was always gentle when it came to his spark, and to the bots that he cared for. Even if he was trying to be known, he wouldn’t continuously be so rough with Cosmos’ spark, delicate as it is. But, what did he know of inter-dimensional travel? Maybe it was just the pressure of traveling through space and time that made the loving tugs feel forceful?

So Cosmos did what he always did when he got tugged— send as much love as he could muster back. It seemed to work, the yanking would stop and normally wouldn’t come back for another day. If he was a little less forthcoming with the emotional devotion when responding to the yank, or took too long, the yank would come back again, a little rougher than it was before. The static would feel like it’s spreading throughout his whole frame, fogging his processor with its numbing fuzz and his spark would _ache_.

It’s gotten to the point that he would wince and rub at his chest every time it happened now. The forceful behaviour was making him tense, which made his joints creak and his platting feel like it would snap under the pressure of keeping it clamped down all the time. Not to mention the pain and stress wasn't good for his weak spark. None of the bots at the base knew any mag-pulse techniques, which was a shame because he was really overdue for his next appointment with his mag-pulse therapist, Breakdown.

The bots from Team Prime would always send him sympathetic looks or maybe give him a pat on the shoulder or something of the like every time he creaked or winced and rubbed his chest. Marissa would frown, staring up at him from wherever she was at the time and looked like she was composing the verbal smackdown she was planning to give Soundwave when they got back. 

Today he doing his most frequent chore, babysitting the human children. He would play racing games with them, tell them old Cybertronian fairytales, or about some alien planets he visited. Their favourite topic to ask him was about his mysterious Conjunx and all about what that meant. 

When they first asked, a few weeks ago, all Cosmos got out was that it was similar to the human practice of marriage before one of the Team Prime bots quickly cut him off and changed the subject. The human children were too young to understand Cybertronian relationship systems yet, and their own apparently. That didn’t stop them from asking him what his ‘cool alien space husband’ was like though. Well, after he had Marissa and the human medic June Darby help him stumble through the concept of what “gay” was. 

Apparently it was weird and hard to wrap their minds around the fact that his holomatter form was a human female, while he used male pronouns. And that he had a partner who also used male pronouns. 

Good thing that he decided to just let Marissa and June have the “talk” with the kids and not explain that Cybertronians didn’t actually have gender, and instead divided themselves by frame type and religion. He couldn’t imagine the damage control they would have to do if he told them that the only reason Arcee used the pronoun “she” was because she a part of the Solus Prime religious faction, and her actual pronoun “one devoted to creating and protecting life” easily translates into “she” or “female” in most organic languages.

After the kids went home that night, Marissa had flopped down on her tiny berth in their shared habsuite and groaned. “I’m never having kids.”

Cosmos looked down at her from his berth, where he was rubbing a human heating blanket onto his tense frame, hoping to loosen the plating or cables a little. “But aren’t you, Thundercracker, _and_ Arcee the ones that are mostly raising Trypticon’s bitlets? Sunstreaker and Thundercracker have both sent me image captures of at least two of the newlings curled around your desk recharging or of you reading to a group of them. Not to mention that when they stayed on the Sanctuary last year, for that cultural education thing _you_ set up, that a few of them even wanted to call you up to tell you good night before they recharged. I don’t know about human standards, but by ours, all of them are basically already yours.”

Marissa looked up at him horrified. “W-what?! I’m not a parent! I _can’t_ be a parent! I’ll ruin those kids-- bitlets, whatever!”

Cosmos tilted his helm, “Is ‘parent’ the organic term? I thought it was ‘mom,’ at least that’s what the kids use.” He knew all of them called June Darby ‘mom’ at least once. They had also called Ratchet and Arcee ‘mom’ once or twice when they asked the kids to do something responsible they didn’t like. “We use the term ‘mentor,’ though I suppose ‘guardian’ works too depending on how you translate.” 

“Not the key point of that statement, Cosmos! Why would you all let me be a parent— ah, mentor! Even if we ignore the glaringly obvious reason why I shouldn’t be in charge of those kids- that I'm a squishy human that will die of old age before they can even blink- I don’t even know how to be a good parent! I’m lucky that I made it to adulthood with how my parents were and—!”

“Marissa!” Cosmos cut her off, the way her breathing was picking up speed was making him nervous, afraid she might do the human equivalent of overheating. “You’re fine, if _anyone_ thought you were a bad mentor they would have brought it up or had the new forges raised by anyone else. Like I said before, you also aren’t their only mentor. Thundercracker and Arcee and her Conjunx are helping too, right? Not to mention all the bots from Cybertron and the colonies that show up to teach culture classes and histories.” 

He snorted, and reached down to give her a gentle, comforting pat on the back. “Believe me, if anyone thought that you weren’t a good mentor, the Council of Worlds would be involved and Starscream personally would come to take away the new forges. Half since it’s his trinemate as a co-mentor so he also shared responsibility, half since he’s a bastard that loves any drama that might make him look good.”

She still looked a little wild in the eyes, but she was breathing a little steadier. “I suppose you’re right…”

“Of course I am.” He folded up the heating blanket on the edge of his berth. “Now, lets see if we can convince Ratchet to let us fly for a while, a little flight might warm up my frame faster.”

Impromptu human sexuality lesson or not, Cosmos knew he could never tell anyone from this universe who his Conjunx was. Knowing that the humans or the Autobots here would never understand why he, an Autobot, Bonded with the new leader of the Decepticon cause. Not just because they were probably still fighting his Bonded, but because a lot of bots from his world didn’t understand why he fell in love either. 

So he always answered the questions about his Conjunx with minor, but not telling, details. That he was smart, calm, slow to anger but steely cold when it happened, loyal, dedicated, how he loved the Earth animals called elephants and even had names for some of them from his favourite herd. Marissa even chimed in once that she liked how they looked together, how they contrasted each other both in shape and outward personality that it was pleasing to be around. These little details were enough to tide the questions for a while, but more would always follow.

“How come you never say your Conjunx’s name?” Raf asked softly once. Cosmos was watching them play some sort of fighting video game on their tiny T.V. when he was startled by the question. Jack and Miko, who where playing the game, both looked up.

“Yeah! Raf is right! What’s up with that anyway? Are you embarrassed about him?” Miko teased, eyes flickering back down to the screen before giving a hoot of pleasure as her character knocked out Jack’s.

The older boy frowned at the screen. “What? Not fair Miko!” He got shoved by the younger girl for his complaints.

Raf reached up and patted a section of Cosmos’ frame to bring his attention back to him. “It is a rule? That you’re not supposed to say their name to anyone?”

“Ah, no no, there isn’t a rule or anything like that.” Cosmos muttered nervously. “It’s just, humm, well you three might not know who he is, but I know for a fact that Team Prime will.”

He could feel Bumblebee’s stare on his back struts from across the base where he was helping Ratchet with something. And from the way the medic’s grumbling quieted he knew the older mech was listening too.

Jack blinked. “Is that a bad thing? That the team will know who your husband is?”

Cosmos fidgeted a little, shuffling his pedes. “Kinda? Where I come from it’s the future. Our war has ended, we have a new Prime and a Leader of Cybertron. Bots they talk about here who’ve died, are alive in my world, and bots that have died in mine are alive here. There are so many differences from how our worlds are to bots’ personalities that I don’t want to jinx anything here by telling them information that doesn’t apply here.”

Miko scrunched up her nose. “I don’t get it, if stuff from your world doesn’t happen here, why should it matter if you tell them or not?”

“Because it might hurt their feelings.” Raf said quietly. He looked thoughtful and a little sad. “That’s it isn’t it? The bots from Team Prime know your Conjunx, but things are different from where you are. So here, your Conjunx might be dead, or missing, or different, and you don’t want to hurt their feeling by talking about it. You know what happened to him here, don’t you?”

Cosmos smiled a little at the young human, optic band curving a little to show it. “Yeah, yeah I know how my Conjunx lived here and what happened to him during the war. I’d rather not bring up bad memories or thoughts of ‘what-if’s’ for anybots here by bringing it up. I’ll see him again soon, so it doesn’t matter.” 

There was a long pause after that. The character select music was coming from the T.V. and the lack of any noise from behind him meant that Ratchet and Bumblebee were probably having a conversation through their internal comms. about what he said.

Cosmos looked down at the humans, they looked thoughtful and a little sad. He sighed, feeling a little bad about upsetting the children. “Here,” he huffed, pulling a disk out from his subspace. “I have an image capture of us in our holomatter forms if you wanna see that. It’s when we were visiting Earth for the anniversary of the day Earth joined the Council of The Worlds. In celebration, all the Cybertronians who went had to take an organic appearance.” This way, he can gloss over any Decepticons and only point out bots he felt safe mentioning, and there is no way Ratchet or Bee will be able to tell who’s in the photo without an explanation. 

The children gathered around the disk as he set it down on the floor. He flicked it on and smirked at their surprised gasps at seeing the holograph image pop up above them. It was a photo Laserbeak had taken amused beyond belief at Soundwave’s exasperation at finally giving in to the twin’s demands that he make a holomatter. So there they were, Cosmos’ short, plump, happy looking holomatter pressed up snuggly against a stiff, dark skinned human woman in a navy blue suit with yellow detailing, and a hijab. On either side of them, there were two scruffy looking young humans, probably a few years older than Jack, making faces at the camera. 

Cosmos pointed at the darker woman, “That’s my Conjunx’s holomatter, Marissa is always saying how much it looks just like him. The two idiots beside us are his teammates, been together ever since the war started and now they’ve decided to give everyone they come across a helm ache. Jazz and Marissa are normally the ones that have to stop their ploys, mainly because my Conjunx just ignores them now and let’s whatever happen.” He snickered. “They once put pink paint dye in the solvent supply on the Sanctuary. My Conjunx knew about it of course, but just let it happen ‘cause he knew if he stopped this prank, they’d do something even worse. He just told me to hold off my shower until tomorrow.” Cosmos shook his helm, “Next thing you knew, half the station including himself were splattered with bright pink for days.”

The children all laughed, and he could hear Ratchet huff and Bumblebee’s giggles behind him. He swiped at the image and another popped up, the two of them at a human marketplace. It was busy, crowded, but the two women were in centre focus. Cosmos was laughing, short red curls flying as the female holomatter threw their head back to give a full belly laugh. His Conjunx stood tall and formally beside him, still immaculately dressed, except this time, there was a large, goofy looking, balloon elephant hat sitting atop his hijab. 

For a while that’s what they did, laughing and eating up any information he gave them about his family, his friends, his world. He never went into any details besides names with some of the bots. After a while, the sounds of typing and chatting could be heard behind him as Ratchet and Bumblebee went back to work.

It wasn’t until he slipped up a little. It was a group photo Cosmos took with some of his friends from the Lost Light. 

“Oh that human right there, with the blonde hair, dark skin, that yellow jacket? That’s Sunstreaker, great mech, grumpy and snotty as the Pit but a good mech. We get energon tea together once a week with TC. Anyway, beside him was my former captain of the Lost Light, Rodimus, and everyone behind him are his command staff. See the old gruff looking human? That one is Ratchet!” The kids were all amused over that, giggling over his ‘grandpa sweater vest’ and the silver streaked red hair. “He and his crew are all on a quest, so they hardly visit Cybertron or any of the colonies, so getting to talk with any of the mechs in person is a treat.”

“A quest? Like a bunch of knights?” Jack mused.

“No, they’re on a ship and he’s a captain, so they’re space pirates!” Miko jumped in excitement with her eyes shining.

“What were they on a quest to find? The Holy Grail? Treasure?” Raf asked. His legs were tucked up close to his chest and he looked wonderingly up at the hologram, like he was imagining their whole quest just from some human faces.

“Ah, well, we were trying to find Cyberutopia, a planet that was founded by the Knights of Cybertron. It supposedly is flowing with energon, and a peaceful paradise lost to the stars. It was originally just a myth, a story to tell the greatness of Cybertron and how wonderful it was of us to spread our knowledge out amongst the stars.” Cosmos snorted. “Most bots during the Golden Age just used it as an excuse to fund space trips and colonize other planets. Because if the greatest of us did it, so should we.” He paused, “Did I tell you the story of Cyberutopia?”

Raf shook his head, “No, but it sounds like the story of El Dorado, the city of gold.”

Cosmos hummed, “Well, next story time I’ll tell you about it then. Anyway, it was supposed to be just a myth, except when Rodimus had the Matrix, he had this vision or something of this map--”

There was a clatter behind them and Cosmos turned to look. Ratchet was staring at Cosmos in a look of resigned grief, a tray of tools scattered on the floor at his pedes. Bumblebee was worriedly looking between Ratchet and Cosmos, servos in the air as if to reach for Ratchet but holding himself back.

“Rodimus, huh? Is that short for Rodimus Prime?” There was a thick layer of grief in his voice that made Cosmos flinch.

“Uh, well, yeah but Ratchet--!” 

“Save it, I need a moment, Bee hold down the fort.” And with that Ratchet shifted into his Earth alt and was down the corridor to leave the base before anyone could blink.

Bumblebee’s wings drooped. “Oh slag.”

Cosmos was wringing his servos together. “Bee, believe me it isn’t like that, Optimus is still alive. He lost the Matrix during the war and Rodimus found it and it chose him.”

Bee gave a sad whirring noise. “Yeah, I know. Remember when we first met you? You and Marissa knew Optimus and wasn’t surprised to see him there. Ratchet missed that whole interaction though, and well. He’s been trying to piece together parts of your life to try and figure out how your war ended, see if they could apply pieces to our fight.” Bee gave the shuttleformer a helpless shrug. “He thought something big happened but didn’t know what, now he’s got the wrong idea.”

Cosmos flinched, “I know, that’s exactly what I didn’t want to happen by sharing anything about my world. If you want, I can go after him, maybe try and explain? I can’t tell him how our war ended though, it--” Cosmos winced, “-- it’s not really something that can be recreated.”

“No don’t worry about it, let him have some time to think and then I’ll get Optimus to try and talk him out of this funk. Don’t worry Cosmos, just stay with the kids. Maybe no more stories about other mechs though?” He looked down at the mess Ratchet left and sighed, shoulders slumping and doorwings drooping. “I guess I’ll clean up this mess.”

Cosmos stared after Bumblebee, wanting to apologize again, but instead turn back around to look at the children. Miko had this odd look of defiance on her face as she looked past him at Bumblebee, Raf was hugging his knees, and Jack looked apologetic. 

“Ah, well I guess that’s enough with the photos.” Cosmos switched off and picked up the hologram disk and placed it back in his subspace. “Uh, why don’t you guys play one of your video games, we can have a story time later if you want. Once everything relaxes a bit around here.”

Miko bunched her shoulders up around her ears. “Yeah ok, whatever. Raf, I bet you can’t beat my time on Rainbow Road.”

Raf got up and gave a weak smile. “Oh yeah? I bet I can.” The two hopped onto the couch and had their Wii remotes up, ready to play.

Jack walked closer to where Cosmos was standing by the railing. “Hey, don’t worry about it. Ratchet is always a little sensitive when it comes to Prime. I’m sure he’ll calm down and the big guy will talk some sense into him.” Jack looked a little thoughtful, and glanced around Cosmos to see if Bumblebee wasn’t paying any attention. He lowered his voice to a loud whisper. “Ya’know, after you told us about that Conjunx stuff, my mom told me that she thinks Optimus and Ratchet might, ya’know, _be_ together.”

Cosmos shuttered his optics in surprise. “Ratchet and Prime?” He thought about it. While it was weird to think about Ratchet as anyone but Drift’s Conjunx, he had to admit that the mech’s relationship in this world with the Prime was very overly familiar. None of the other bots on Team Prime even looked twice when Prime or Ratchet would mesh fields while they talked together, secluded off to the side of the main hanger. “Eh, maybe, but it wouldn’t be my place to say if they were. They could just be Amica-- best friends, almost translates to ‘Blood Brothers’ if one wants to be technical.” He cut the human boy off when he saw his mouth open in question. “Come on, let’s go watch Miko trounce Rafael.”

The rest of the evening passed by rather smoothly. It wasn’t until after Marissa came home from Fowler’s base and Prime’s patrol was back that Ratchet also drove through the main entryway. He had a private conversation with Optimus in the taller mech’s berth room, and it wasn’t until the next morning that Ratchet apologized for leaving so abruptly.

Life continued, and lay awake in his berth, missing his Conjunx and wondering how his double in this world was doing.  
_____________

“Optimus, come look at this.” Ratchet’s voice broke through his musings and drew the attention of everyone in the base.

Cosmos was currently using his holomatter, and sitting on the couch with Rafael and Miko snuggled up on either side of him like pet turbofoxes. Jack was sitting on the other side of Rafael, all three children sitting enraptured as he told them a Devisen story of “The Two Mechs With Golden Frames.” He overheard it being told to Trypticon’s brood once, and it was a strange tale with lots of twists and betrayals and plots that easily captured the children and newly forged’s attention. As well as Bumblebee’s if the way the young bot was hanging off every word by Cosmos’ frame just outside the ‘play zone’.

He paused the story and looked up at Ratchet’s voice and he wasn’t the only one.

Optimus walked over the the console Ratchet was at, looking at the data he was pointing too. The other bots gravitated towards the console as well. Even the humans abandoned the couch to scramble up and clutch at the bars of their ‘play zone,’ eager to see if they would be allowed on another mission. Cosmos dismissed his holomatter.

“Look at these readings, they are Cybertronian and give off a particular energy wave. I think it might be another artifact.” 

The prime nodded, optics focused. “Yes, you may be right, old friend. A scouting party will be sent— Bumblebee, Arcee and…” He trailed off, looking over at Marissa who was standing on the console itself, “Miss Faireborn will accompany you, if you do not mind?” 

The human shrugged, “If it’s in a populated area you might need someone to run human interference.” She let Bumblebee pick her up off the console and walk over the the ground bridge. 

Miko jumped over the barrier bar and it was only with Cosmos’ quick reflexes that she didn’t break a leg on that fall. “Oh, please Optimus! I wanna go too! It’s so booorrrrrring here, I wanna go with!” The other children all begged for permission as well. Cosmos felt amused, they looked like a tiny pack of Earth dogs, all yipping for attention and walks. 

Optimus frowned, “Children, I’m afraid this mission will be too dangerous. If we have already located this artifact’s signal, so have the Decepticons. I will not be putting you three in any unnecessary danger.”

Miko groaned, slinking into a puddle of human disappointment in Cosmos’ servos, and Raf pouted and sat back on the couch. Jack looked a little relieved after Optimus mentioned the danger. 

An idea came to mind. “What if I went with them?” Ratchet looked up sharply and sternly, no doubt about to protest so Cosmos spoke again before he could. “I mean, we don’t know if the Decepticons are there yet, and if things get a little dicey, I could easily fly them out of danger. As a shuttle former my thrusters are powerful enough to outpace and blast any flier that comes near us.” That last part was, not really true, but close enough. A shuttleformer wasn't as fast as jet on the short term, but for long journeys they out matched any other flight frame. He also could definitely lose any tails by breaking atmosphere.

“No! Cosmos you can’t just go skipping into battle! Think of your fuel reserves, your stress levels! If you get hurt I won’t be able to repair you! Not to mention your alt mode, what if a human sees you, then what?” Ratchet snapped, worry masked under the sharp tone.

“Ah, let the little guy go! He’s been cooped up in base for so long that even I’d go stir crazy if I was in his position.” Bulkhead clapped Cosmos on the back, jolting him forward a step. Miko gripped his digits tightly so she wouldn’t fall. “And he’s good with the kids, he wouldn’t let them get hurt.”

Optimus was silent, staring at Cosmos for a klik. “Is this something you really would like to do, Cosmos?”

“Optimus! You can’t seriously be considering this!”

“I wouldn’t mind some fresh air for a little while.” Cosmos confessed.

“Very well. You and the children may go along. But, be sure to call back to base for extraction at the very sight of any danger.” The children cheered and all clamoured on Cosmos.

“Great, well let’s get moving, the longer we delay the higher the chance the ‘Cons will get there before us.” Arcee huffed, rolling her optics in a fond manner. 

Ratchet, grumbling, turned on the ground bridge. The three bots, and four humans, walked through.  
_____________

The first thing Cosmos saw on the other side was wide swaths of lush, rich green. He heard Marissa give a pleased gasp where she sat on Bumblebee’s shoulder somewhere to his left.

They were in some valley of a mountain range that was covered in a vibrant forest. A little ways up, he could see evidence of human mining. Most likely where the artifact was located. 

He turned at the sound of gun whirling to life and saw Bumblebee and Arcee armed and looking at that mining site in front of them like they were expecting an ambush. Marissa, now at their feet, also had her gun out. Confused, Cosmos looked back and couldn't see what had them all on edge, but he held the human children close to his chassis for a klik. 

Miko wriggled to be set free, and Cosmos cautiously put her down along with Jack, but Raf seemed content to sit in his arms. He was just looking around at all the trees in wonder, not really acknowledging or sensing the tension in the bots moving ahead of them.

As they walked closer to the sit, his spark began to feel like it was fizzing in his chest because the static was suddenly so loud. He heard Raf gasp, jolting away from his chassis.

“Cosmos, your chest feels like it’s full of warm, angry wasps!” He pressed a hand to the green plating again, frowning. “Is that what’s been bothering you this whole time?”

“Ah, kinda? Its not normally this strong.” It wasn’t quite a tug, but it felt like the static was radiating from somewhere— somewhere nearby. He just couldn't pinpoint the location. He gave a wary look around, feeling phantom optics caress his frame as he walked. There was something familiar about the feeling… 

They broke the clearing, and it was empty. No signs of humans, and thankfully, no Deceptions either. This apparently meant that Miko was allowed to run around and snap photos of everything and try and climb all the machinery. Raf patted the large green servo he was sitting in, motioning towards the ground once he got the bots attention. 

As Jack was trying to act as the “responsible minder” of the two younger children, Cosmos stood in the centre of the clearing. Both keeping half of his sensors trained on the children, and the rest primed with his surveillance mods, casting a light detection pulse around him. He rubbed at his chassis when the results came back negative, but something wasn’t right. 

Any mech to survive the war knew to trust their instinct, and his were telling him to be on guard. The static fuzz was incredibly loud, and his processor and GPS were spinning trying to figure out why it felt like the bond was directing him somewhere?

Marissa and the bots circled the area, securing the perimeter. The human agent had a grim face and the moment when her eyes met Cosmos’ optics, he knew she felt the same unease as him. Nothing was wrong, so why did it feel like it was?

Arcee and Bumblebee put away their blasters, content at the apparent all clear. They must not be feeling the same hunting presence as them. 

The blue femme then pulled out a device from her subspace, the thing beeping and whirring away as she walked closer to where the energy signature was located. It must have been in one of the human packing crates over by a temporary looking human building.

“They must have just dug it up,” Marissa stated as she looked at all the human excavation equipment. “I wonder why there are no workers around. Did Optimus inform Fowler that we were coming?”

Bumblebee shrugged, “He must have.” 

Cosmos, not really paying attention to the others, unsubspaced his blaster having noticed a splash of unnatural colour near one of the large storage containers at the edge of the clearing. The closer he got to the container, the more his spark felt like it was pulling him in that direction, the static becoming almost painful along his lines. Something about this static, the tugging, suddenly made him think for the first time that it might not have been his Conjunx. The harsh tugging, paired with the feeling of being at the other end of a sniper’s scope, made what his instincts and programming told him was supposed to be comforting…. feel _wrong_. 

“Hey! I think I found something over here!” Miko chirped. Cosmos paused and turned to look at the little human, who was peering into a crate the size of an adult human. He caught Raf’s eyes, the smart little human’s gaze was narrowed onto his thoughtfully then flickered down to his readied blaster before tilting his head a little to the side. Marissa was herding Miko and Jack away from the box behind the smallest boy, making sure they would stay behind her and safe incase something went wrong.

Arcee walked over and easily pried the rest of the lid off and blinked in shock at what was inside. “Sweet Primus…. Bee, Cosmos, you’re gonna wanna see this.” 

Bee bounded over from the other side of the clearing and Cosmos followed reluctantly, subspacing his blaster once more. He’ll check out that container later. He shook his helm a little, the static had faded somewhat, but his spark was rattling in its container that he go back and check _right this second_. He bent down and scooped up Raf as he passed the little boy, giving him a better view to see what was in the box.

Arcee pulled out a long, bestial looking object. It looked as if it had three predacon facial plates carved onto one side, with their optics hollowed out except for a thin sheet of glass. The other side was plain and curved enough that it looked a little like a more complex, elongated, Praxian death mask.

Bee gave a whirl of shock and awe. Cosmos looked up at the younger bot, surprised to see something akin to horror in his optics. “Oh Primus, if the Deceptions got this…”

Arcee sounded grim. “I know. It’s a good thing we got here first. I’m going to inform the base, we need to call a ground bridge and get this secure before we get any company.”

“Wait a second! Maybe you can inform the rest of the class what exactly we have here?” Marissa sounded firm, in full commander mode. 

Arcee handed the mask over to Bee and looked down at Marissa. “This mask is something of legend, something belonging to the Primes long ago. It’s believed that this mask, created by Onyx Prime, is what helped Primus choose and create the frame design for all Cybertronians.”

Recognition clicked in Cosmos’ mind. “The Triptych Mask….” He shakily reached a digit out towards the top helm and dragged it down to the last. “Farsight, Predator, and Mournsong. Wow, I thought it was just a metaphor.”

“I know those names…” Marissa mused, gazing up at the mask in determination.

Cosmos shook his head, still rocked with disbelief. “You must have heard one of the Camiens telling the story to the new forges. It involves Solus Prime so they include it in most of their religious teachings.” He only knew this fact because Windblade was quite chatty after her 4th shot of high-grade, and had a lot to say about how Starscream’s educational proposal was lacking in including things important to the colonies.

“The Onyx Triptych, or the Triptych Mask,” Arcee glanced at Cosmos before looking down at the humans again, “Is a very valuable artifact from legend. Created around the same time as the Forge of Solus Prime and is one of the original thirteen artifacts given to the Primes. It’s said that each face has its own abilities. Farsight,” She lightly traced a digit along the faceplate of the uppermost helm, “Is said to grant the viewer visions of any time or place they desire. Some legends say that if a user masters it’s abilities, they may even walk anywhere in time or space they desire. Predator,” here she dragged her digit down to the second helm, which was slightly larger, “gives the viewer any insight needed to hunt down any prey successfully. Any weaknesses, hideouts strengths to avoid, some even say it can give you a vision on what you need to do to capture and kill you’re prey.”

All the bots and humans shuddered at the thought of what would happen if it would end up in their enemies servos. Arcee’s jaw clenched a moment, but continued on to the bottom mask. It was the largest of the three and unlike the other two, it looked more like an insecticon than a predacon.

“The last mask, Mournsong, allows the viewer to watch a Spark on it’s path into the Well. There have been stories, tragedies, of Bonded sparks being separated by death. One half of the pair will hunt down and wear Mournsong. They then travel into the Well itself to bring their Bonded’s spark back into their frame.” She winced. “It never ends well. More often than not the pair end up both deactivating due to their grief or that The Fallen drags himself out of the pits of the Well to kill the reunited lovers, furious that he if can’t be with his Bonded after death, no one else ever will.”

There was a moment of silence as everyone stared at the mask. Then Rafael let out a thoughtful hum, “Sounds like something out of a Greek myth.”

Jack gave a nervous laugh, “I was thinking more along the lines of the Deathly Hallows.”

That made all the kids perk up and look at the mask in a more appreciative light. Marissa snorted and shook her head. “I’ll give you kids the Resurrection Stone and the Elder Wand, but Farsight, sounds like it would make a poor Invisibility Cloak.”

Rafael laughed, smiling at Marissa in an adoring way. “You don’t need to be invisible if you can just hop anywhere you want, in any _time_ you want. That sounds like a good way to cheat and sneak away from death until you're ready for it to me.”

Bumblebee made an inquisitive noise and Rafael smiled up at him. “I’ll read you the Harry Potter books later, if you’d like.”

Arcee just shook her head. “I’m going to comm. Optimus and scout the area again, we need to make sure this area is secure from any Decepticon threat. Bee, Cosmos, stay with the children and the Mask.” With that she paced away, blaster out and servo to her comm. system. 

Marissa gave the mask another inquiring look. “Hey Cosmos.”

“Hum?” He looked down at the human, helping Rafael to the ground so he can play make-believe wizards with the other two around Bumblebee’s and his pedes.

“This mask, the Farsight one, do you think it could be a way to get us home?” Marissa asked, looking up at the mask while Bumblebee held it at an angle so she could see its entirety better.

Cosmos blinked. “Well, I suppose if we could get it to work, maybe? To be honest, most of what we know about it is stories and legends, I didn’t even know it was real until like, just now. Not to mention it could only be real in this universe.”

Bumblebee chirped, “Trying it could be worth a shot. I doubt we could use it though, it might need to be wielded only by a prime. Which is another reason why we should get this to Optimus right away. Even if the Decepticons can’t use it, it would be more effective with us, but I wouldn’t put it past Megatron to find a way to use it anyways.” The younger mech grumbled.

Cosmos waved the idea off. “If it needs to be wielded by a prime, them Megatron won’t be able to use it. I mean, what is he gonna do? Replace his optics with a dead prime’s? That would be insane and not to mention deadly for him.” Cosmos shuddered. “Drinking a dead mech’s fuel is one thing, but putting their degrading parts into your systems? Yuck.”

Bumblebee was giving him a horrified look. “Have you drunk a dead mech’s fuel before?” 

Before Cosmos could respond, Arcee suddenly cursed. “The comms. are down, I can’t seem to reach the base.” She snarled, glancing around with a critical optic, blaster ready. “The Deceptions must be here and jamming the signal somehow. Stay close, don’t spread out incase they pick us off one by one. Cosmos, grab the kids and get ready to fly.”

A shiver ran up Cosmos’ spinal strut. The tugging on his spark was becoming insistent, the static louder in his panic. “The container.” He twirled around, pulling out his blaster again. 

The tugging seemed to pull him towards the container and he hesitantly stepped forward, ignoring Arcee and Marissa’s snap of “Cosmos!”

He could see that spot of colour splashed across the ground near the container. The brilliant, sticky looking, red streak against the dusty ground. The door was slightly ajar and he kicked a pede at the door, pushing it open enough so he could peer inside. He almost wished he hadn’t.

An optic blink was more than enough he needed. He spun around, tank in his throat, static roaring in his audials. Bee startled at the sudden movement, but responded quickly to the disgust, fear, and pity in the shuttle’s field and herded the children into a group with Marissa, who’s pistol was at the ready. “The humans need to get out of here, NOW!” 

A familiar voice cut through the clearing. “Well now, you all just got here! It would be rude to leave so soon, especially without saying _hello_.”

Arcee and Bumblebee started snarling lowly. “Oh, not this clown!” Miko groaned, and was hushed by panicky Jack.

Cosmos twisted around, and spotted two familiar frames. “Ambassador Knockout? Breakdown? What are you _doing_ here?” His mind spun, why would the Ambassador of Velocitron and his mag-pulse _therapist_ be in this universe? They didn’t look different, not like these other universe copies of bots he knew.

“I beg your pardon, have we met before?” Knockout blinked, a little confused but that surefire smile never wavering from his pale faceplate. “I’m sure we can catch up after you hand over that nifty little artifact and we deliver you all to Lord Megatron.”

Breakdown just huffed a chuckle, “And if you don’t want to hand it over, we can do it my favourite way.” His servos spun and transformed into two large hammers which he them slammed together to produce a booming CRACK.

Oh, Cosmos thought weakly, this was going to cause some problems the next time he went in for his appointment. 

He lifted his dropped blaster and fired at the duo, quickly back-pedalling toward the Bots. His spark was hammering in his chest, the tugging was still there pulling him somewhere just beyond the tree line. 

He ignored it and kept firing at Knockout, watching from the corner of his optic as Arcee flung herself at Breakdown with a battlecry. 

“Cosmos!” Bumblebee chirped, “Take the artifact and the humans and get out of here! Arcee and I will hold back these two, and once you get far enough call Optimus for backup!” He streaked passed Cosmos, tossing the mask to him as he passed, firing at Knockout and sending a powerful kick at the Ambassador’s double.

He managed to grab the mask just as he heard Breakdown’s booming laugh, Arcee’s pained grunt and suddenly he had the two-wheeler crashing into his chassis. Pain laced through Cosmos’ frame as something snapped near the vicinity of his spark and both the bots were thrown back onto the ground. 

Pain coursed through Cosmos’ body as his helm slammed into the ground and this processor blanked out.  
________

He came too with Marissa’s fearful voice in his audial. “Cosmos, if you don’t get up _right now_ I’m going to shoot you somewhere _sensitive!_ ”

Cosmos groaned, blinking away all the warning notifications on his HUD. Yeah, he knew he was in pain, he didn’t need a detailed report on where. The answer was: _everywhere_ , he hurt _everywhere_. 

“M’issa?” He rebooted some systems in his processor and dismissed the warning signs. “Primus, how long was I out for.”

“ _You bumbling idiot!_ You _broke_ it! How am I supposed to explain this failure to Lord Megatron?” Knockout voice was scathing when it reached his audials. 

Cosmos reset his optics and heaved himself up. Arcee was standing in front of Cosmos and the humans, blasters out and firing at the Ambassador’s double. In his lap, was the Triptych Mask, snapped neatly in half just below Predator’s optic holes. 

“Oh, scrap.” The only lead they had on getting home and it gets crushed as soon as he gets his servos on it. Typical. 

“Cosmos! Get the humans and the artifact pieces out of here!” Arcee shouted.

“I don’t think so! If I can’t bring back that artifact as a prize, I’m bringing back your deactivated _frames_!” Knockout snarled.

He scrambled up, frame acting on instinct to Arcee’s angry tones. “Right, yeah.” He moved to transform, but stopped as his spark felt like it was being pulled from his chassis. “Urk!” He hissed out a spray of static and wobbled on his pedes.

“Cosmos! What’s wrong?” Marissa barked, she had the kids shielded behind her and her pistol was drawn, ready to fire if any of the Deceptions took another step closer. 

The pull was coming from in front of him, and it felt… close. “I think we might have company.” He pulled his blaster up, directing it at the forest waiting. After a tense moment of hearing nothing but the fight going on behind him, Cosmos fired his blaster into the direction of that pull. 

It wouldn’t be his Conjunx, he was sure of that. There was no way Soundwave would stand around and hide while Cosmos was in a stressful situation and could get hurt. Not to mention that if he did somehow make it to this universe, he wouldn’t wait around to show himself. So no, whoever was pulling on his Conjunx bond wasn’t his Bonded, and Cosmos wasn’t quite sure he wanted to find out who would violate such a sacred connection.

The shot shattered a tree and kept going, the old wood never standing a chance against an energon blast strong enough to pierce Cybertronian plating. 

A tall, dark, blade thin flyer twirled out from behind the shattered tree seconds before the blast hit. He stood there silent as a shadow, a blank visor taking up most of his faceplate, and Cosmos felt fear shiver down his spinal strut. He aimed and fired his blaster again, backing up towards the humans.

The bot twisted away from the shot once again. It was a graceful movement, effortless with how easy and uncaring the mech’s body language looked. The entire time, that blank visor they wore was trained onto Cosmos’ much smaller frame. It felt like it was bearing down into the shuttleformer’s spark.

A spark, which thrummed into high gear at the sight of the other bot. A spark, which had static now rushing in to every electron of it’s being, causing Cosmos to gasp in shock.

They stared at each other for a sparkbeat, than another before Cosmos gasped--

“Soundwave?”

The reaction was instant. The thin mech shot off like a blaster shot towards him. Cosmos raised the gun again and fired, then twisted away to scoop up the humans and the artifact, transforming around them midstep, and fired up his repulsers.

He must have timed it right as the thin mech made a grab at him, as he heard a statically snarl as the thrusters burned his digits.

In his shuttle form, Cosmos blasted at the hulking shape of Breakdown, getting Arcee’s attention. 

“Go!” She screamed. “Bumblebee and I will hold them off and get the other half of the mask. Get out of here and get help!”

Without needing to be told twice, Cosmos shot off like the rocket he was. Spark hammering with fear and static he raced over the trees and away from the fight.

“Cosmos, holy shit.” Marissa breathed, “Some warning next time, please.”

“Sorry,” he gasped, “Next time I’m having a mental crisis while squaring off Soundwave’s scary evil double, I’ll make sure to stop and ask if it’s ok to pick you up.” She gave an amused snort. “Hey kids, how are you all feeling? Sorry for the rough start but please don’t throw up in me.”

Jack wobbled. “Oh my god that was Soundwave, right there.” He gripped of of the spare chairs by Cosmos’ command deck. “Oh my god, how did you know he was there?”

Miko cheered, pressing herself right up against his glass window. “THAT WAS SO COOL! You just fired at him like, pew pew pew die Soundwave! And just scooped us up like it was nothing and shot out of there like a bullet!” She started vibrating in excitement. “Like, oh my god, look at how fast we’re going!”

Raf just wobbled himself down into one of the chairs, buckling himself up tightly. “I would also like some warning next time we suddenly go flying if that’s ok. I think I hit my head off of that mask thing.”

Marissa frowned, walking over to the boy. “Are you alright, where did you hit your head? Is there a lump? Cosmos, how long will it take us to get back to base, or to comm. the team for back up?”

Cosmos growled, “We’re still being signal blocked! I don’t understand--” A small notification on his HUD dragged his attention away for a moment. Reading the content he cursed sharply. “We’re being followed, probably Soundwave. Although somehow, I don’t think this will end nearly as nicely as the last time he chased me down.” He grumbled to himself.

He ignored the children’s questions and Marissa snapping at them to sit down and buckle up. He focused his view outside of his hull, viewing as much as he could behind him to that small black drone plane that was quickly catching up on him.

Frag, he knew he couldn’t out fly Soundwave back when the mech only had anti-gravs and thrusters in his root form, forget outflying him when he had a seeker frame. Cosmos knew he could outpace a seeker any day of the week, but on short fast chases like this? No slagging way could he get away, unless….

Without warning Cosmos shot up towards the planet’s atmosphere. The seeker would have trouble breaking atmosphere, or flying as coordinated in space without gravity, which was Cosmos element. He had enough fuel on him that he could make it out of this little solar system and back if needed, but he could probably just lose the thin mech in the asteroid belt by Mars- if the seeker had the fuel levels to make it that far. Unless seekers in this universe couldn’t even fly in space, then he’d probably just lose him by doing a lap around the planet’s moon, or even just breaking atmosphere. He gunned his thrusters a little more.

His proximity warnings sprang to life and Cosmos quickly banked left, just missing laser fire.

The human children were screaming in his hull, Marissa was barking out orders, but Cosmos tuned them out, instead falling back on millennia worth of instincts. He flipped over the next barrage of fire, shooting back with his own blasters, twisting around the return fire. As Sound-- no, not Soundwave-- as the seeker twisted away to avoid Cosmos’ barrage, the little shuttle shot upwards.

Primus, so close, breaking atmosphere was just a few more miles up and then freedom!

The proximity warnings blared in his audials, Cosmos tried to dodge them again, but there was another set of blaster fire exactly where he dodged too. 

His spark wailed in pain as he felt the hit land directly onto his left thruster. His vision swam and he could feel his processor stalling through the wave of fresh pain. The stinging sensation of air slapping at the wound as he lost altitude nearly pushed him over the edge.

Primus, everything hurt so much. His spark felt so empty, so _lonely_. 

Where was it’s other half? Why was it’s other half letting it be in this pain?

 _Where are you?_ It called out through the sea of static. _I need you, I miss you, I want you_.

The static roared even louder, answering the call. But that wasn’t the answer it wanted. _Where are you?!_ It called again. _Please, I need you, I miss you, I want you_!

At every plead the static hissed louder. And if it strained itself just a little, it could almost hear a voice through the ever pressing, cacophonous thundering of static.

 _I’m here!_ It thought it heard. _I’m here, I’m here, I’m here, I’m HERE_!

“COSMOS!” Marissa screamed, slamming her fists down on his console, jarring him out of his daze. His optics snapped open as his processor cleared away the static fuzzing around his audials. 

He gasped in shock as the seeker, his not-really-his-but-something seeker was so close, too close. Long spindly cables extending from their haul were stretched out towards him, almost as it to grab-- no, to catch him.

Oh, scrap he was falling again!

Cosmos kicked his remaining thruster back to life, pausing his descent, meters from crashing into unforgiving ground, and shot up past the seeker and its reaching cables. 

Marissa was tossed to the ground from the force, grunting in pain.

“Marissa! Primus, are you alright, are the kids alright?” Cosmos couldn’t risk turning his gaze inward, too busy zipping through the tall trees, trying to shake the seeker before trying for the atmosphere again. 

“Ugh, we’re fine, shaken up pretty bad but fine. How about you? You took that hit pretty hard, what’s the damage report?” He could feel Marissa moving inside of him, gripping his console, maybe regaining her footing?

“I--” Cosmos paused, cleared his vocalizer and tried again. “I can fly, but I don’t think I can shake him. And as long as he’s following us, we aren’t going to be able to call the base for backup, I think he has a signal blocker installed in him somehow.” He narrowly missed another tree, and dove a little lower to the ground. “I have a plan but you won’t like it. I think it will be a good one though, a way to contact the base for sure.”

Marissa sounded like she was gritting her teeth. “What is it?”

“I’m gonna drop you and the kids off here, you hide with the mask behind some trees, and I’ll lure him and the signal dampener away for you to call the team for pick up.”

There was a commotion of noise from the kids. “No! Cosmos you can’t do that, what about you!”

“You’re hurt, Soundwave will catch you!”

“Yeah, I’ll fight him for you Cosmos! We can take him together!” 

“No,” Marissa sounded grieved, resigned. “No, Cosmos is right. That’s our best bet on getting out of here alive.” Her grip on his console felt tight, he could feel her manicured nails threatening to snap as they tried to dig into the metal.

The kids increased their rally cries of denial but Cosmos ignored them. “Alright,” he muttered, “Get ready then.”

He bank a sharp right past a line of trees. The ground was getting rockier here, close to a mountain some distance away. In the span of a human heartbeat, Cosmos transformed from a alien shuttlecraft to his root mode, scooping the humans out the air in the broken half of an ancient Cybertronian mask. It was a tight fit, all four of them in a jumble of limbs.

He gently placed the mask onto the ground, close to a large rock in a hope to hide them a little easier. “Wait here for a breem, then try and call the base, if you can’t connect wait another one and try again. I’ll try and lure him as far away as I can get.”

Marissa swallowed thickly and nodded, her gaze drifting over his shoulder and her mouth tightened. “God, Cosmos, your thruster…”

He stood, backing up a couple of paces. He needed to leave soon before Soundwave found them. “I’ll be fine, I’ll make it back to base. Don’t worry about me, just make sure the kids and you stay safe.” With that he transformed back into his shuttle mode and shot off, not fast enough that his blasters would burn the humans but enough to get him a safe distance away to really push his exhausted engine. 

He shot up, hoping to be spotted, flew above the trees for several sparkbeats, then banked right, towards the mountain. The seeker was on him in nano-seconds. He must have been scanning for him. Cosmos gritted his denta and tried to put more distance between them. 

Get the seeker away from Marissa and the kids. That’s all he had to do, just get him away from the humans.

Cosmos knew he couldn’t shake the seeker, knew he was going to be captured or shot out of the sky. That didn’t matter right now, all he had to do was make the seeker follow him a safe distance away. Whatever happens after, just happens. 

He pushed himself a little more, but the seeker was gaining on him. Just a few more kilometers, a few more and he will hopefully be out of range for the humans. More trees whizzed past, and Cosmos had the fleeting thought of how odd it was that the seeker wasn’t firing at him anymore. 

Once he hit what he thought was a good enough distance, Cosmos flipped in the air, firing some blasts at the seeker that was _way too close oh Primus_!

The black seeker barrel rolled out of the way of the fire, those cables shooting out to make a grab at the green mini.

Cosmos swore and twisted out of the way, only to slam right into the top of a towering tree. _Slaggit_ , he cursed, _I fell for the same trick twice_!

With his stabilizer thrown off, Cosmos tumbled towards the ground. It felt like he hit every tree branch on his way down too, scratching his paintjob and dinging his frame with small dents. When he finally hit the ground it felt like all the air was punched out of his vents. 

He transformed after a dizzying moment of trying to catch his breath, stumbling to his pedes in a weak wobble. All his pain receptors felt like they were on fire, his processor was scramble six ways to the Pit, and his spark was tightly squeezed by a thick blanket of static. Oh, and thanks to his busted thruster, his fuel gauge was hovering around a low 65%, he wasn’t supposed to be that low for at least another two Earth months. Lovely.

Honestly, he was lucky he could even stand without collapsing.

The seeker, that _bastard_ , gracefully landed with hardly any noise, transforming at the last second into his root form to land on his pedes. He stood a breath away from Cosmos, looking hardly affected by their chase through the wilderness of Earth at all.

The _scrap-heap bastard_.

Cosmos wavered, and took a step back, unsubspacing his blaster to take a sloppy shot. 

Predictably, the seeker flicked out one of his cables to slap the blaster out of his servos, making the shot go wide. He took some easy steps toward the green mini. No, wait, he _prowled_ towards the mini. Slow and smooth, as if he had all the time in the world, knowing that the end of the chase was very near and there was nothing his prey could do to get out of his grasp.

Cosmos scrambled back, jerky, with fear leaking into his field. His optics were trained on the two weaving cables coming out from the black bot’s frame. They twisted in the air, swaying like Earth cobras preparing to strike, teasing bursts of terror into Cosmos’ field by darting closer to him but pulling back at the last second. Playing with him.

The ‘Con took a deep invent, almost like he was _tasting_ the fear saturating the air between them. His helm tilted a little to the side, still trained on the green figure in front of him before his frame tensed for a quick sparkbeat.

Cosmos had just enough time to think, _Oh frag_ , before the other bot pounced. 

The seeker lurched forward with a speed that really didn’t surprise Cosmos because of how thin and agile he looked. The cables finally striking, shooting out at him and shoving him back, pinning him against a large outcropping of rock. 

Trapped, and realizing that he had been herded into a corner with no way out this entire time, Cosmos gave a futile struggle, spitting curses. The cables slithered over his plating, tightening their grip on him until he couldn’t move any of his limbs.

The seeker stopped at his pedes, towering over him. He cast a slight shadow over Cosmos’ frame as he loomed. The static was deafening around them, it felt almost physical.

It was at that moment, that Cosmos realized the static was coming from _him_. The seeker.

Soundwave.

Cosmos stopped struggling and stared up at horror at the thin alternate of his Conjunx.

“What did you _do?_ ” Cosmos breathed. “ _What did you do to my Conjunx bond?_ ”

Soundwave didn’t say anything, just crouching slightly, one servo braced against the wall behind Cosmos, the other hovering over right above his chassis where his spark was. A digit lightly touched his frame and Cosmos saw stars. 

His spark lurched, reaching towards the touch it craved making Cosmos chassis arch until he could feel all of Soundwave’s servo pressing back at him.

 _My other half!_ His spark cheered. _I missed you, I want you, I need you! Please, please more_!

Cosmos gasped, feeling Soundwave’s servo trace up and down his chassis seams, right where it would open to expose his spark. The touch familiar yet _wrong wrong wrong._ The warmth, the passion, the pressure were all right but the thinness of the digits, the way they felt like they were clawing to get what they want instead of coaxing, the overwhelming empty static where there should have been love-- it was all _wrong_!

“No! Stop!” Cosmos pleaded, gasping. Loud shuttering invents could hardly be heard over the crackle of static. “Don’t touch me, you aren’t him! You aren’t _my_ Soundwave! Let me go!” He thrashed in the cables grip, trying to shake the _wrong wrong wrong_ touch off of him.

The grip on his chassis tightened, almost like it was going to rip his chest open to get at his spark, making fear surge into his field until all he could taste was his own terror.

Then it lessoned. The servo just splayed out on his chassis possessive instead of demanding. Soundwave’s visor filled the mini’s vision as he leaned in closer. There was a crackle of an unused vocalizer coming to life. Different voices spliced together, sounding like a verbal anonymous ransom note filled the breath of space between them.

“ _My Little Spaceship. Only My Little Spaceship. Little Spaceship Is Not For Other. **Mine**._”

While Cosmos was frozen in fear over that _creepy_ display, Soundwave pulled back. The cables tightened even more as Cosmos was lifted effortlessly into the air. There was a snap of light behind the seeker, a ground bridge whirling to life. 

Cosmos felt dread settle firmly into every aspect of his being. At least Marissa and the kids were probably safe back at the base by now.

With that thought, Cosmos was carried into the ground bridge behind Soundwave, and away from any chance he had to freedom.  
________

As the brilliant green of the ground bridge swirled offline, Cosmos felt his spark contract in fear as he saw the constricting walls of the Decepticon base around him. Long, dark hallways sprawled before him, but it was their vast emptiness that worried him. Where were all the bots?

Soundwave walked forward, and Cosmos, who was still tightly gripped and carried off the ground by his weird tentacle cables, reluctantly followed.

The fuzzy static felt like it was running through his fuel lines, making his plating shiver and rattle slightly at the feeling. He tried to wiggle free, but the static just became so loud it felt like it burned briefly. He stopped moving to gasp, trying to get as much cool air into his overheating systems as possible. 

They stopped in front of a large doorway, and Cosmos felt dread pool in his tanks. The doors opened to reveal a large command centre. A long walkway platform stretched across the vast room, and more of those Decepticon drones were milling around the bottom level at consoles. At the end of the platform, there were several figures. He recognized the brilliant red of Ambassador Knockout’s copy and his bulky blue Conjunx, but the thin silver mech beside them was unknown. 

His spark froze in fear as Cosmos saw the large gunmetal grey mech that stood behind the trio at the slightly elevated command centre of the ship. Even though he stood a fairly far distance away, Cosmos’ good optics could see every detail of his visible frame perfectly. His optics were a bright red, tinged with purple at the edges, and though he held no similarities in frame besides colour and aura, but Cosmos knew that the mech who towered over everybot here was none other than Megatron himself.

Those cold optics flickered up to Soundwave and his Autobot captive as they stood in the doorway. Those sharpen dente spread into a sinister grin and Cosmos renewed his struggles with vigour as those optics lingered on his red Autobrand peeking out between Soundwave’s cables, ignoring the scolding tug from the sparkbond. They began the slow walk towards the group, Cosmos’ fear increasing at every pair of optics he felt on his frame the closer they got to the end of the walkway. 

“Ah, Soundwave, you made it back with your little prize I see! Breakdown and I were worried that we’d have to go out looking for you, after we delivered our own prize to Lord Megatron of course.” Knockout’s voice was just as silky here as it was when Cosmos saw _his_ version last, trying to coax Starscream into chugging a mystery shot Moonracer made at that dinner party for the Council of Worlds’ representatives and their plus ones. 

The red racer waved his pointed servo gracefully towards the warlord, who was indeed holding the other broken half of the Triptych Mask. The bottom half of Predator and Mournsong still glowed with life, and Cosmos thanked the Well and Primus that Megatron didn’t have the top half of Predator. He shuttered just thinking about how this crazed looking mech would use that tracking device against the Autobots here. 

They reached the group, and Cosmos was flung to the floor, the cable slithering over his frame until it wrapped only around his neck and servos, keeping a very firm grip on both. The minibot’s knees ached from the rough treatment and was about to protest when the grip on his neck tightened in warning. 

There was a disdainful sniff coming from his right side, and Cosmos could just flick his optics up to see the slender grey mech without moving his helm. 

“Doesn’t look like _too_ big of a prize to _me_. One lone Autobot shuttleformer? And one too small to be of any use? It’s no wonder I’ve never seen this mech on this mud ball before, the Autobots must have been hiding him in their base this whole time. Too weak to deactivate him yet smart enough to know he’s not useful for anything mission wise. Especially if he got caught so _easily_ on the first mission he’s gone on.” The seeker bent down to sneer at the minibot, and flinched back minutely when Cosmos revved his powerful engines in anger at the Functionalist based insults. It wasn’t anything he hadn’t heard before, but hearing the harsh reasoning for why he did Mass Displacement in the first place was not helping him at all. Just another thing to talk to Rest-Q about when he got home. Primus, the amount of therapy he was going to need was piling up. 

Surprisingly, there was no repercussion for the snarl, in fact, Megatron gave a low chuckle that made the mini’s plating crawl. “At least _some_ of my subordinates are getting results, Starscream. Although, I must admit being… disappointed… at only receiving half of this artifact.” The mask was lifted out of Cosmos’ line of vision. “Knockout was telling me that this little shuttle made off with the other half. Tell me Soundwave, do you have the rest?”

There was a moment of silence, everybot angled towards this spindly version of Soundwave. Cosmos used this time to inappropriately, and probably hysterically, think about how _ugly_ this Starscream looked. Like, the all grey was not doing him any favours and he was pretty sure his Starscream— and wasn’t that thought weird— would be insulted at how boring he looked. Although the voice was a lot better, not nearly as screechy to listen to.

Soundwave made no movements and didn’t say anything, but Megatron gave a disappointed hum anyway and continued on like he heard something no one else did.

“So he must have hidden the other half. And you suspect the humans have it? Well it’s a good thing Laserbeak was left to deal with the vermin.” Cosmos froze, spark sinking down to his tanks. Laserbeak was left behind? She still had her guns in this universe, and the children were completely unarmed. Marissa only had her human grade weaponry, which had almost no effect on Cybertronian armour. He left them to be hunted like glitchmice by a turbofox.

There was a dark chuckle above him and the cable around his throat moved so he was forced to look up. Right in the amused optics of this narcissistic dictator. “It would seem as if your noble sacrifice was inherently pointless, isn’t that right?” Megatron sneered down at the mini, and Cosmos revved his engine in anger again. Megatron just looked bored at the attempted bravado. “I wonder if Prime cares enough about you to barter something of value for your continued existence, he always did have such a soft spark. A useless, deformed spark such as yourself must entice pity of some sort if Prime has kept you alive for as long as he has.” There was a cruel smile on his lipplates, “Perhaps with this exchange we will give your life some meaning, little shuttle. Perhaps you are the key to having my blades taste his energon once again.” He flexed his servo, and a large, plain sword extended itself from his vambrace. The lights glinting off it’s razor sharp edges.

Cosmos revved his engine again, proud at how strong it sounded despite how hurt and scared he actually felt. “Still obsessed with Optimus, Bucket-head? Go write a sad poem about it in your diary instead of making me listen to how much you wanna frag him. It’s embarrassing, I’m embarrassed for you _and_ all these ‘Cons for making us all listen to you whine.” 

There was a spark beat of total, complete silence. From the angle his helm was tilted he had a good view of how horrified Knockout and Breakdown looked. He couldn’t see Starscream or Soundwave, but he felt the cords around his neck loosen in shock and saw how the thin grey mech in the corner of his optics froze like a techno-deer in headlights.

Megatron’s expression was blank as he raised his fusion cannon, humming with life, point blank at Cosmos’ helm.

Before he could fire, or before the shuttle could blink his optics, he was suddenly jerked back by the cables tightening around his throat, pressing right along his vocalizer and making it hard to speak. A thin black frame swiftly stepped in front of the line of fire, making the other three ‘Cons flinch back to a safer distance, just incase a fight broke out or they got caught in the line of fire.

“Soundwave!” Megatron’s voice was cold and authoritative, making Cosmos’ spark flutter in fear at the sound. “What are you doing, get out of the way! No one talks to me like that and lives.”

There was another beat of silence as no one dared to even take an invent. Soundwave just stood stock still in front of Cosmos, his thin frame not doing much to block Megatron from sight.

“Ahem, I don’t mean to intrude, or speak on behalf of Soundwave.” Knockout interjected, sounding nervous and looking like he might flee his Megatron even looked in his direction. Good for him it looked like he was too busy staring down Soundwave instead. “But perhaps your, _loyal_ third in command was hoping to, maybe, run some test on the Autobot?” 

There was a growling tone to Megatron’s voice as he snapped. “Explain.”

“Ah, well, you see, the Autobot seemed to know where Soundwave was, before he let his presence known. Even as he was broadcasting that signal blocker, which would have made him completely invisible on all sensors. Not to mention, that when we reported the unfamiliar Autobot to base, Soundwave _came himself_ instead of letting Breakdown and I handle the extraction as originally planned. This Autobot must have _something_ Soundwave wants, or else he wouldn’t have voluntarily came on this mission, or chased the Autobot down to bring him back instead of just retrieving the other half of the mask.” He sounded a little meek, as if for pointing Soundwave’s thought process he would get shot himself.

Megatron made another thoughtful noise, and the hum of the fusion cannon died down. “Is this true, Soundwave?” A beat of silence, then he gave an amused chuckle. “Very well, I’ll allow you to _play_ with this little Autobot. I’m sure Prime will still exchange something for him after you’ve had your fun.”

Cosmos felt his spark sinking at the words, remembering the possessive touch at his chassis seams earlier. Soundwave nodded at his Lord and made a gesture at Knockout, who sputtered. 

Megatron waved a servo in dismissal and turned around, presenting all of them with his back as he ended the conversation. “Yes yes, you may take the good doctor with you as you experiment on your little shuttle. I no longer care what happens with him as long as he’s still alive for bartering when you’re through with him.”

Cosmos felt his spark tip into overtime as pure fear rushed through him. No, Soundwave wouldn’t, he wouldn’t experiment on him because of the spark bond, right? Surely the Decepticons of this universe weren’t so deprived as to _experiment_ on spark bonds, right? He renewed his struggling tenfold, his begging at Soundwave to not touch his spark like some sort of monster, like _Jhiaxus_ , only came out as choked off static bursts. The grip on his throat tightened and his spark was pulsing so fast, way to fast to be healthy.

He was pulled from the room, dragged, as Knockout followed behind reluctantly. Before the door out of the main control area closed shut on his fate, he thought he saw Breakdown and Starscream give him looks of _pity_.  
_________

The air in the base was tense. No one dared to make any sounds, afraid of breaking the self regulated silence. Emotions were stifling in the enclosed space, especially around Ratchet. The old medic was normally so careful at keeping his EM field close to his frame, but ever since Marissa’s call to the base for back up and an extraction, his field was unwieldy with regret, blame, sorrow, worry, and anger. Bumblebee couldn’t even go near him anymore without feeling like those negative emotions were snapping at his sensitive doorwings. 

In fact, Bumblebee was so affected by all the swirling emotions coming off of every bot in the base that his wings were twitching like they were connected to a live wire. It didn’t help that after he drove the kids home an hour after everyone but Cosmos was back at the base he hadn’t stopped pacing. He felt restless, agitated. To the young mech, it was his fault that Cosmos— who was practically an injured civilian in his optics— got captured. He should have dealt with Breakdown sooner. Cosmos wasn’t an active fighter anymore, not to mention that he was a surveyor and a spy during his war, someone that was hardly ever on there front lines or expected to fight close combat like they were. Especially against a bot as savage and vicious as Soundwave. Primus knows what that bot will do to poor Cosmos.

Bee offlined his optics, not wanting to think about that. No good will come by tormenting himself about what-ifs. His team needed him clear minded right now. Cosmos needed him clear minded.

The best thing he could do, as the youngest member of Team Prime, and in turn the one expected to boost morale because of that, he needed to be here for his team. Ratchet, well, Bee couldn’t do much for Ratchet. Nothing could get that older bot out of a depressive spiral like Optimus could. 

Besides, Marissa was worse. The first few hours after she returned, and they waited for Cosmos’ comm. call, she was tense. As time dragged on she became angry, snapping at anyone who tried to talk to her. They tried the half of the Triptych Mask they managed to procure, hoping that Predator will be able to help them find the shuttleformer. Unfortunately, nothing they tried could make the work, so they were forced to turn to other options. When they brought in Wheeljack a few hours ago to see if he could track Cosmos’ flight path, she became melancholy, staring off into space and muttering to herself about how she was going to explain this to ‘him’ when she got back. She was now laying on the children’s couch, locked in a fretful sleep after Ratchet told her she needed to recharge.

“You’re becoming exhausted Marissa. If we need to send you out to extract Cosmos, you’ll be in no shape to help us or him. Go eat and rest, we’ll wake you up if we hear anything.”

Bumblebee was just about to pace around the room once more when Prime activated his comm.

“Wheeljack, what do you have for us.” Everybody in the room, except for the lone sleeping human, strained themselves towards their leader, hanging off every word.

There was a pause, and then Optimus’ shoulders drooped. Bee felt like he was punched right in the t-cog, all the breath whooshing out of his vents. He buried his helm in his servos, not wanting to hear the bad news that was no doubt about to come. 

“I see, thank you Wheeljack. You’re more than welcome to come back to base. I understand, thank you for your efforts. Prime out.” Optimus let out a heavy exvent, and Bee clutched his helm a little tighter, screwing his optics shut.

He failed. It’s his fault Cosmos isn’t here. He is the reason they lost another teammate. 

“Wheeljack had finally concluded Cosmos’ flight trail. He found pink energon, enough that it might have been from a large enough wound to knock him out of the sky. He followed the pedesteps until they came across a rocky outcrop. He smelt ozone in the air which means a groundbridge. He believe Cosmos was taken prisoner.”

Bumblebee let out a low, mournful tone. Taken wounded, just like Cliffjumper. 

Arcee let out a snarl. It was angry, but filled with an underlying layer of despair. She must of had the same thought.

“What are we gonna do? We hafta go get him back, the little guy won’t be able to handle what those nasty ‘Cons could do to him up there.” Bulkhead rallied.

“How!” Ratchet snapped. “We lost all chance of tracking him after he passed through the Nemesis’ shields. A ship, which I feel the need to remind you, we have _no_ way of locating! We have _no_ way of getting him back!” Ratchet bellowed. “If you have any bright ideas I’d be more than willing to hear them out!”

Marissa gasped awaked at the commotion. “What, did you find him? Do you have any info on Cosmos?” She went ignored.

Arcee gave a growl and the sharp sounds of her pedesteps on the ground felt like it was stabbing Bumblebee in the processor. “I’m more worried about what the ‘Cons might get out of him. He’s not trained to handle torture, and he knows where our base is! Where the children live! If the ‘Cons get any info out of him we’re doomed.”

“You confirmed he was taken by the ‘Cons then?” Marissa asked, desperate to know more, but once again went ignored as Bulkhead roared over her. 

“The little guy has a spark issue! He won’t be able to handle any type of torture-- forget spilled info I’m worried he might kick the bucket! We need to go out and get him back!”

“HOW!?” Ratchet screamed, fist slamming down on the console.

Bumblebee couldn’t take it anymore. He leapt to his feet. “Stop! Stop fighting, this isn’t gonna help us figure out how to get Cosmos back! We need to work together, Cosmos is counting on us to help him!”

Before anyone could reply, there was a loud crack from behind them. Everybot flinched and whirled around.

Marissa stood there, shoulders squared and face determined. She held one hand towards the roof, gun firmly in its grip. “Now,” she gritted out in the ringing silence, “Someone had better tell me what the hell I missed, or the next shot won’t be a warning one, and is going through someone’s optic.”

No one moved an inch. Until Optimus raised his servos in a placating gesture. “Please lower your arms Ms. Fairborn, I will explain what has come about, there is no need for violence.” 

She hesitated for just a sparkbeat, before lowering her gun. “Alright. Tell me what I missed. What’s the status on Cosmos?”

As Prime opened his mouth to speak the strangest sensation happened. There was a… wave, of energy that pulsated into the room. Bumblebee wobbled on his pedes at the unexpected pressure, and before he could regain his footing properly, there was a blinding flash.

Blinded, Bumblebee transformed his stingers out, ready to attack once he regained his senses. Resetting his optics quickly, showed that the transporter was activated. 

Ratchet was stumbling towards the transporter console, optics shuttering as he tried to clear his vision. Arcee had stepped in between the medic and the now activated groundbridge, and Bumblebee heard Bulkhead over by where Marissa was standing. Optimus had stepped closer to the young scout, as if he was about to shield the young yellow bot from whatever came through the portal.

There was a tense silence as nothing happened. 

And then, four figures emerged from the light.

The bot who came through first had two flaming energon swords in their grip. Their pink and white frame was covered in old battle scars, and with the confident way they strutted into the base, Bumblebee knew that whoever made those scars had to work for it. Behind them there was a tiny frame, only just passing the first bot’s thigh. Wide shoulders, black chassis with white struts and helm. Both of them had blue optics.

On the left, was a towering blue and black seeker, their engine rumbled threateningly loud and Bumblebee felt his spark sink as he guessed who it might be. In the middle, a severe looking, dark blue and black host. Both of them had rust red optics and very familiar purple logos. Decepticons.

The host’s carrier compartment sprung open and five, furious and threatening cassettes came flying out, easily surrounding Team Prime. Two mecha-falcons, two minis, and a snarling black cy-cougar.

The host then spoke in loud, flat yet very scathing tone. It sent shivers down the young scout’s spinal strut, and made Optimus inch in between them more. 

“Where is my Conjunx.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOF sorry if this is all jumbled, I wrote it out of order, which is something I hardly ever do. Please let me know if you spot any glaring mistakes or have any questions!
> 
> Also Special Note: ok so to be blunt about it, my take on Cybertronian gender and identity does NOT take away the fact that, by human standards, these robots are gay AND that they can be trans (IDW Arcee is my favourite canon trans lesbian and i would rather die than take that away) In fact, I headcanon that TFP Knockout is trans by Cybertronian standards just because i like the idea that he was a flier and was like “no this isn't me” and reformatted himself to be a grounder, where he is more comfortable, going with a form of frame/alt-type method of identifier for Cybertronians. While its canon that they change their appearances a lot, and do frame modifications, I think that their form of “gender identity” is with what they turn into: helicopter, racer, two-wheeler, truck, boat, jet, etc with triple changers seen as bigender individuals, monoformers as agenders, and those that change their alt-forms as trans. 
> 
> So basically, I just need you all to know that these robots are Gay and Trans and thats wonderful
> 
>  
> 
> ALSO!!! That one scene where TFP!SW had finally caught Cosmos was inspired by one art piece by F1ukemeister24, which can be viewed by clicking the link below!! <33 tbh, this whole fic is originally based around that one scene, and grew around my need to explain wtf was going on, and so this whole monster of a fic was inspired by this picture lmaoo Please go give it a like and reblog!! <3 Just a warning, it is tagged as "vavleplug" even though I don't see anything nsfw about it, but just a heads up!  
> https://f1ukemeister24.tumblr.com/post/171042002037/commission-for-vanoodle-totally-wont-let-me-tag


	3. No matter how dreary our home is, we would rather live there than any other place

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm honestly surprised at how many of you in the comments didn't realize Rewind was included in this story! I worried so much about how adding him and TC in the characters slot when i added the chapter was going to ruin the surprise at the end lmao :PPP but i guess i didn't need to worry because a lot of you were shocked and happy to see the ending
> 
> oh well, just cause you all made me laugh about that, the first part is gonna be in Rewind's POV, I'm also experimenting with different styles for different POVs, so I hope that doesnt get confusing!
> 
> Chap title is inspired by that famous Wizard of Oz quote:  
> “No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home.”  
> ― L. Frank Baum

Rewind peered around Arcee’s strut at the silence following Soundwave’s statement, taking it for the chance it was to get an opticful of this new world.

The mini was a little hesitant to be without his Conjunx and the rest of muscle and wit of the Rod Squad, but Ravage had promised Megatron and Chromedome that she would look out for him. And he knew that all the other mechs in this group were competent fighters and didn’t want to deal with the entire fury of the Lost Light crew if Rewind got hurt. Again.

Not to say Rewind was a slouch at fighting. He could fire a blaster just as well as any other bot, he _did_ survive the war after all. He just was better at fighting bots his size, and really liked seeing Domey toss bots around.

With his little camera lit up and already recording since before they stepped into the portal, Rewind finally got a good look at the mechs that inhabited this world. They were tall, like most mechs unfortunately-- one day he wanted to meet a universe of entirely normal sized bots. They also had oddly, incredibly sleek looking frames. Almost like those hailing from the colony Velocitron, yet still different as he couldn’t see any visible olfactory sensors. Which wasn’t something so strange since Rewind knew many individuals who lacked them, however since this entire group didn’t have any he took it as a trait of this universe. A strange trait, but an easy enough identifier. 

He made sure to get a clear shot of each bot: small, blue, kinda pointy looking, two wheeler for sure; big, green, round, bulky, a type of armoured truck based off of the wheel size and texture; yellow and black, Praxian frame type, obviously a racer; red and white, clearly a medic, actually he looked a lot like Ratchet’s pre-war frame style-- something Rewind knew of course, because he found some image stills of the bot; tall, imposing, most definitely the leader of this group, probably either this universe’s version of Optimus Prime or somebot who is trying to mimic his frame style and paint job.

They also were clearly prepared for a fight based on their stances and armed blasters, which looked like they were a part of their arms! Interesting! Rewind wondered how that exactly worked, did the energon blasts they fire come straight from their own energon supply? Could they literally fight until they starved to death? Brainstorm would know, and probably appreciate if the mini could get a nice view of some schematics, not that using one’s own energon for a weapon sounded like a good idea. Actually, now that he thought about it, most fliers had weapons that were a part of their frame, but as far as Rewind knew, they had to have energon bullets inserted separate. But those weapons could be easily attached and removed at will, these mechs needed to transform their weapons, meaning they were clearly a part of their frames and frame structure. Maybe it--

“Unicron’s dusty valve, shut your trap, Rewind!” Rumble snarled, making the Autobot mini snap back to attention. A quick glance around showed that the foriegn mechs were all looking at him in amused surprise, while his team just looked anywhere from annoyed to bemused to exasperated. “I know you wanted to come along and film, but I didn’t know this was gonna turn out to be a fragged up documentary!”

“Yeah!” Frenzy sneered, “If we wanted to hear a ‘Bot ramble on about boring slag we would have stayed behind with the nerd squad.”

Rewind scoffed. “That ‘nerd squad’ is what’s getting _my_ former crewmate back and _your_ Host’s Conjunx, you ungrateful little brat. And I’m just recording my thought process, every little detail about this world is important and should be pointed out for record.”

Soundwave gave an aggrieved sigh as the rest of his Cassettes- minus Ravage, as she liked to act like she was above petty squabbling- started squawking in laughter or bickering. He didn’t say anything to stop them, just lifting one servo and the four of them went silent. 

Thundercracker glanced over Soundwave to smile down at Rewind. “Hey, Rewind,” he mock whispered, loud enough that the mini was sure the other Autobots-- ‘cause that’s what they clearly were, since Optimus and Ratchet wouldn’t be anything else but Autobots no matter the universe-- would be able to hear. “I know you ‘Bots don’t know how we do things, but the best tactic when meeting an enemy is to form a solid, threatening, cohesive front. So maybe try not to start anymore arguments until we head back? I understand art is important, but maybe wait for a better time to narrate.”

Before anyone could comment on that, a small human voice called up behind the large green bot near the back. “Thundercracker?! Is that you?”

“Marissa!” The seeker was beaming, and it looked like his optics were welling up. He took a few steps forward, wing quivering with emotion. “Oh Marissa I was so worried! Buster was so upset when you went missing, not to mention the baby bits. We all thought you were dead after what happened with Soundwave and--”

He was cut off as every single one of the forigen bots had their blasters trained onto the former ‘Con. The big green one, that was blocking Ms. Faireborn from view was growling, low and deep. “Hands where I can see them ‘Con scum! If you even _think_ about taking one more step--”

A cold look flickered over Thundercacker’s face and Rewind firmly put himself behind Arcee, who stood a little straighter and shifted, preparing herself for conflict. Suddenly, Rewind was reminded that Thundercracker was a part of the Command Trine of the Decepticon Air Forces and had been for millennia, had helped lead the air strike that _eradicated_ Praxus off the map, and who’s outlier ability of creating sonic booms with his engines could shatter the audial components of an entire fleet of Autobot troops to causing entire buildings to crumble at a touch. 

A fact that must have registered with this universe’s Ratchet, as the medic’s optics widened in fear. So they must have a Thundercracker in this world as well, and he must also have the same outlier ability, which is a fascinating thought. Maybe once everything calmed down, he could ask the medic for a copy of their history files. Maybe this Ratchet might even know why some bots have outlier abilities, or at least a theory. 

The thundering boom of Thundercracker’s engines shocked Rewind out of his thoughts. The ground beneath his pedes shook, making the mini lose his balance. He swore, the sound lost in the cacophony of crackling thunder. The walls and ceiling of this cave based hideout these forign group of Autobots were using, _shook_. Bits of rock and dust were falling from the ceiling, making Rewind fear the normally happy-go-lucky seeker would cause a cave in. 

“If you think you can hold Marissa against her will, you have another thing coming. If a single hair on her head is damaged I will flay your frame off and then _shatter_ each and every one of your components in my own hands while you and all your friends watch.” That cold, growling tone shook Rewind to his core. He felt every word vibrate in his spark, boosted by the rumble of the Seeker’s engine. 

Arcee leaned closer to Rewind, silently offering her leg to help stabilize the mini, which he was thankful for. Arcee, and the Decepticons beside them, didn’t seem phased at all by Thundercracker’s show of power, even the Cassettes weren’t stumbling around like he was. If anything, Soundwave looked bored and his Cassettes were all grinning as if this was all a big joke. 

The other Autobots, on the other servo, were just as off balance as he was. The other Ratchet had wobbled over to the big, hulking, green bot, reaching for something behind him-- probably Ms. Faireborn. The yellow one, which must have been the youngest of the group because he was clutching at Optimus in fright, screeching in Neo-Cybex. The small blue one was trying to get his balance and a clear shot of Thundercracker. 

Arcee, who didn’t sound like she was shouting but was clearly heard over the roaring, waved her sword at the Autobots to keep them back. “Thundercracker, if you bring down this cave on top of us and kill your human in the process, I’m sending you back with your wings torn off and shoved into your exhaust vents. That would also mean _Rodimus_ and his rabble would invite themselves over, and I _would_ like to get home in one piece.”

Thundercracker’s engine quieted and the shaking stopped. Debris drifted down from the ceiling, and Rewind expelled some air from his vents to clear the dust from them. He looked up at Arcee and make sure to get her in clear shot of his camera. “What do you mean ‘ _Rodimus and his rabble_ ’? I don’t think we’re that bad?”

Arcee snorted and watched with a sharp optic as the Autobots righted themselves. The other Ratchet was shakily bringing Ms. Faireborn out from behind the hulking green bot, hissing something at the green bot when he started to protest. “That wasn’t the part to focus on. The key point was not to have the _cave_ we’re in _come down on us_.”

Ms. Faireborn, who was smiling brilliantly at Thundercracker, just giggled. “Cosmos told me enough about the ‘adventures’ your crew goes on. Said you all were ‘cursed by Adaptus” or something like that.” Rewind scoffed at that comment while Ravage just flicked an audial in amusement. Having an abrupt change in course happen or new quest pop up every other week didn't mean they were cursed, just made life interesting!

The human reached towards Thundercracker, who walked up to the unsure medic in an easy stride. “Hello TC. You missed me did you, you big baby.” She teased, as if she wasn’t beaming ear to ear.

Thundercracker’s optics were welling as he gently scooped up Ms. Faireborn. He sniffed. “Of course I did, we’re partners!” Coolant spilled down his smiling cheeks as his wings fluttered happily as he held her reverently.

“I never thought I’d see the day where a Decepticon cried over a human, but it seems fitting that it’s a ‘Con from another universe.” The other Ratchet huffed, eyeing Thundercracker wearily. He looked over our group until his optics landed on Soundwave. “I’ll take a wild guess and say that the Conjunx you’re looking for is Cosmos, right?” The old medic frowned as the Decepticon leader and his Cassettes perked up, almost like he didn’t want to be right.

“Yes, Cosmos is my Conjunx Endura, where is he. Something on this planet or the method of travel is interfering with our Bond, I can only feel static where he should be. Where is my Conjunx?” Soundwave sounded desperate to Rewind’s audials. The mini felt a little pity for the large ‘Con, it must have been painful for him to admit to being so emotional, but Rewind was personally familiar with the desperation he must have been feeling. The shocking, empty, cold feeling of having your Conjunx bond suddenly _gone_ \-- he wouldn’t wish it on his worst enemy.

The young yellow bot bristled. “Ratchet! You can’t actually believe that this ‘Con is Cosmos’ Conjunx!” He glanced around desperately, as if someone would agree with him. At the look of bitter acceptance amongst his team, the apologetic look Ms. Faireborn had on, and the bored annoyance of our team seemed to shake him to his core. “B-but they’re _‘Cons_! How could he-- with a ‘ _Con_ \-- he’s an _Autobot_!”

“From the sounds they normally make, probably with great pleasure!” Buzzsaw and Laserbeak were squawking with laughter as the yellow, blue, and green bots froze with looks of disgust across their faces. “You see, young bots, when two mechs love each other very much--” 

“They tend to frag the brain components out of each other!” 

“And a Bond can form if you don’t use protection--”

“So when you berth a nice young mech always remember to keep your merges shallow and quick!”

“Or you might end up Bonded to the leader of the new Decepticon order and become co-leader of a bunch of idiots living on a space station!”

Frenzy and Rumble were roaring with teasing laughter at the horrified look on the bots’ face. Soundwave and Arcee looked like they were praying for guidance, while Thundercracker and Marissa were laughing quietly to themselves.

Ratchet looked amused as he probably took some petty enjoyment of the collective suffering of a ‘Con and the younger bots on his team. “I’ll have you know, I read Cosmos’ medical file. So I’m quite aware he was Bonded to his world’s version of Soundwave, which you must be.”

All the other Autobots tensed, eyeing Soundwave with looks of horror and determined fear. This Ratchet just looked tired and apologetic. Rewind felt like he was missing something, and it was something bad.

Arcee must have felt that too, because she frowned, gripping her swords a little tighter. “Where is Cosmos. Why hasn’t he showed up yet.”

Ms. Faireborn looked wrecked. She opened her mouth to say something but was cut off.

“I’m afraid your rescue is a day late.” The bot that is most definitely Optimus Prime rumbled gravely. “Approximately twenty-five Earth hours ago, our world’s version of Soundwave had kidnapped Cosmos while he was on a retrieval mission with my team. One of the Autobot’s stationed on Earth just reported he found Cosmos’ last known location.” He paused and did actually look apologetic. “There was large swaths of your universe’s energon all over the area. He believes that if Cosmos didn’t receive medical treatment, which is unlikely as a Decepticon prisoner, he would have bled out by now.”

“No,” Soundwave sounded so sure of himself, just as sure as he was over the comm. system when he was trying to convince Rodimus, Megatron, and Ultra Magnus to send over Perceptor and Brainstorm to help his science team and save his Conjunx. Not that they needed much convincing. The Lost Light was already headed towards Earth when the call was made. “No. Cosmos is here, he’s still alive I can _feel_ that. The Bond, it is different, covered by static yet it is in the same place where he should be. Where he _is_.” 

Ratchet looked interested. “You feel a layer of static over your spark? Cosmos has been complaining about that same feeling since he arrived. I have a theory, but it is a little…” He paused, and grimaced. “It seems a little impossible, and a bit disturbing frankly. I would need your word that you or your team won’t attack any of us before I share it with you.”

Soundwave was still and his Cassettes looked like they were itching to kill these other Autobots for losing Cosmos in the first place. Rewind saw the same look in Thundercracker’s optics as he held Ms. Faireborn closer to himself, as if she would vanish in front of him again. Arcee’s grip on her blades was tight and her optics were narrowed. No one moved to say or do anything.

So Rewind sighed, breaking the tense silence. He stepped around Arcee’s and Ravage’s collective protective presence. He stood as tall as he could with his servos on his hips. “Alright. I’ll speak for all of us when I promise that we won’t attack your team. However, I’m not saying anything about the ‘Cons that hurt Cosmos.” Rewind shrugged. “I shot and killed a version of Megatron once already, what’s another one.” He turned towards Arcee, ignoring the shocked looks of the Autobots. “An Earth day isn’t a lot of time to escape. They’re probably still on this planet or are close by. We should call in the Rod Squad, most of the crew are more than willing to kill some ‘Cons, no offence Ravage.”

She flicked an audial. “None taken, however they will need to get in line, as first kills are going to myself, my Host, and fellow Cassettes for hurting what is _ours_.”

Arcee smiled back at Rewind, and it wasn’t a nice one. “Sure, love a good ‘Con hunting party. I wouldn’t mind seeing Cyclonus’ swordsmanship with my own optics, maybe we can have a competition to see who can gank more ‘Cons.”

The green bot looked shell shocked. “But… aren't some of you guys ‘Cons? Shouldn’t you _not_ want to hurt your own kind? Or _Megatron_?” He sounded like just the idea of ‘Cons willing to kill Megatron was simply beyond him.

Soundwave narrowed his optics, and there was a vicious note in his voice when he snarled. “I would gladly crush Megatron’s spark chamber in my servos, so he may feel a fraction of the betrayal he delivered to me and my kind. If he had any involvement in the harm of my Conjunx, I’ll personally make sure he is on his knees _begging_ for the mercy of death which I will deny him. I’ll keep him alive, stripping his brain module piece by piece. Once a day for every single droplet of engeron that was taken from my Conjunx’ body, until he know longer knows who he is and has lost everything that makes him Megatron. And only then will I crush his spark and feed the rest of his parts to scraplets.”

In the horrified, yet viciously approving, silence that followed, Rewind made a mental note to make sure Megatron was at the next movie night when he showed his recordings. He wanted to capture the look on his face when he heard Soundwave’s vow.

Thundercracker gave an approving rumble. “If this Megatron is anything like ours, then I’ll take great pleasure in watching him suffer for his hand in breaking up my Trine.”

Marissa rolled her eyes. “Maybe instead of rallying yourselves up, maybe we should listen to Ratchet and hear what he has to say about Cosmos and Soundwave’s Bond?” She grinned, a savage thing. “Besides, I’m calling dibs on this world’s Soundwave. You still have my anti-Cybertronian gun, TC?”

The large seeker laughed, and pulled a small blaster from his subspace, dropping it into her hands. “Of course, it was even updated and modified by Brianstorm before we left.”

Ratchet reset his voicebox, catching everyone’s attention again. He looked a little queasy but was hiding with bravado pretty well. “Right, well if you all are done. I’ll explain why I believe Cosmos even survived being transported into this world with his weak spark _and_ a fresh Conjunx bond.”

__________________

Cosmos was strapped down onto an examination table. He didn’t know how long he was there for, the drugs that Knockout fed into his lines disabled his chronometer and made his processor swim. His optics refused to focus on anything, his audials felt like they were switching on and off because sometimes everything around him was soundless. It was hard to focus on anything and he was sure his pain receptors and sensor net were forcibly turned off as he couldn’t even feel Knockout rooting around his insides.

The only thing Cosmos was completely aware of was that Soundwave was with him the entire time. He was the one who forced Knockout to administer the sedative as soon as he was strapped down as well as turn off his sensors, and Cosmos could feel his optics caress his frame ever since. Cosmos couldn’t actually _see_ Soundwave though, partially because of the drug’s effect on his optics, and partially because he was sure that Soundwave was lurking just out of view.

A blur of red and white filled his vision. Was that Knockout, or some other Decepticon? Cosmos hasn’t seen any other ‘Cons besides those in the mission debrief with Megatron and the Drones that filled a lot of empty spaces, so he didn’t even know if there was any other ‘Cons in the base. 

“-- scinating really. According to my tests, the only reason… didn’t die upon transporting into… spark must have created a shallow Bond with you… since your spark was the closest thing it had to something familiar… he came with any other mech instead of that organic… bonded to them… already recognized a spark frequency almost identical to yours… well, you know what happened already… ” 

The blur moved out view and Cosmo belatedly realized he was hearing again. He knew what was being said was important, but it felt like the glyphs were just flowing through his servos like water-- impossible to grasp. Was it something about his Spark?

There was a long pause, or his audials turned off again and Cosmos lost time into the fuzzy haze. There was a bright, red, flashing warning on his HUD that his chassis was open, exposing his spark chamber, but Cosmos couldn’t muster up the reasoning for why that is something bad. Or is it bad? Was his chassis open this whole time, or is his HUD just messing with him again. 

A shadow fell over him and blocked out the lights of the medical room. Cosmos tilted his helm towards that shadow because it was hard to just move his optics right now. Wait, that shadow looked like it was making colours appear where a face might have been. A mech shaped shadow with a rainbow face. Did he know a mech shaped, rainbow shadow?

“... wouldn’t recommend hacking right now… spark is still weak even with the drugs… have to force him offline… on’t give me that! … put all that effort… just to kill him! … can explain to Lord Megtron… lost bargaining chip… if you really want to why not… drugs would help making a merge easier… won’t fight so you… strengthen the Bond you have…” 

Cosmos couldn’t understand what was being said but he still felt a sluggish panic rising in his spark. They were talking about him, his spark, and the Bond, that much he knew. He remembered Soundwave before he was brought to the Decepticon base. Remembered his touches.

No, he didn’t want those touches. Didn’t want this Bond. He wanted _his_ Soundwave.

“-- Stupid, stop wriggling! Your chassis is open I could have damaged something if I had anything in there!” The red blur hissed. 

“Nooo.” Cosmos moaned. It didn’t really sound like words to his audials, but something slow and staticky. “S’op. No ‘ouchin’. No B’nd. Lemm’ go.” He tried to wriggle harder, hoping to loosen something. 

“Going to have to up the dosage before you do anything with him.” Was muttered in his audial. Was that Knockout? Yes, Knockout was red and the medic here so it must be. Cosmos wasn’t going to let the mech do anything to him. He wriggled a little harder, just wanting to be free.  
__________________

They all stood in a semi-circle around the small console. Soundwave wasn’t quite sure how these Autobots were functioning on Cybertronian technology crafted out of Earth materials. It looked primitive. In fact, this whole base looked like it was in shambles.

Cosmos had to live here in squalor for almost and entire Earth month.

Primus, Cosmos. He hoped-- no, he knew his Conjunx would still be alive. When he and Marissa Faireborn first disappeared, inches from the safety of his grasp, he wasn’t so sure. The pain that laced through Soundwave’s entire frame, like gripping a lightning rod as it was being struck, nearly knocked him offline. 

But it didn’t. So he was left to writhe on the floor in pain, screaming, begging, feeling so so so so _empty_. He had been projecting his pain across all of his spark Bonds, trying to find Cosmos _somewhere_ and ended up forcing it on his Cassettes. 

He remembers waking to a morse Buzzsaw, a shaking Laserbeak, and Rumble and Frenzy hiccuping around their tears as they confessed to knocking him out just to stop the _pain_ he was making them feel. His spark was so so so so so empty without Cosmos, but he still managed to feel a wave of guilt over hurting his Cassettes. 

He was under forced bed rest for five Earth days before he realized the static in his spark wasn’t the result of the now empty void where Cosmos’ Bond once was, but was his Bond with Cosmos. 

Cosmos who was still alive and out there somewhere.

Cosmos who was probably alone, in pain, scared, and confused. 

Cosmos who needed him. But here he was, just sitting in his berth wallowing.

Soundwave became a one man army after that. Demanding, shouting, bribing, guilting, even begging to get a team in order to try and reverse the effects of that artifact and bring his Conjunx _home_.

Laserbeak shuffled on his right bringing his attention back to the present. There was something on one of the glass screens. From the look of things it was just Ratchet’s theory on how Cosmos and Marissa were transported here. Nothing of value, since Brainstorm and Perceptor answered and mastered that method a day ago.

Soundwave found his mind drifting again. Laserbeak and her brother Buzzsaw have been helping him monitor his attention span like that for him since they met. Noticing when his mind wandered away in thought and bringing him back. 

Normally he would be distracted by a background program pinging him about suspicious activity. Or a private conversation across the base that captured his attention. 

Then, after he met Cosmos, his mind always seemed to drift back to the small shuttle. His mind would drift during meetings and low processor work like always, but now he would try and listen for Cosmos’ spark beat wandering the halls of the Sanctuary, or trying to decipher an action or phrase the mini had said and translate it into easy-to-understand Decepticon culture. 

More often it would just drift and remember. Remember his laugh, remember the crinkle of his optics when he smiled, remember the relaxed set of his shoulders after he came back from a mag-pulse massage. Remember how he makes his happy hums sound almost like how he says his name. Up tone, draw it out a spark beat, down tone, cut it off with a smile in his optics. 

Now, his processor just felt so slow, easily distracted and prone to drift into the past. Nothing captured his attention anymore. He almost felt like he was going through the motions of functioning. Doing what he has to do. Interacting with mechs he needs to. Nothing matters 

Rest-Q, Cosmos’ medic, was worried about him. He mentioned that he might be showing symptoms of trauma. Like he didn’t make it out of the war without trauma. Like he doesn’t know how to handle this new kind. 

Although, having a Bonded taken away from you is different than having your Bonded betray you and everything you hold dear to your spark.

Losing interest in daily tasks after the death of a Conjunx should be normal. Rung said grief is normal. Not that he needs to grieve. Cosmos is alive and not dead.

Laserbeak dug her talons into his shoulder, bringing him back once more. 

“So, because of those scans, it’s safe to say that Cosmos’ spark Bonded with this universe’s Soundwave to keep functioning.” Ratchet said.

Soundwave’s vision swam. “Bonded.” He droned. Another had bonded with his Conjunx.

“Erhm, yes. Although, based on my conversations with Cosmos, I don’t believe he knew it existed. He was quite sure that the static he felt was your Bond, and not a new one.” Ratchet seemed nervous but Soundwave couldn’t focus on that.

Someone Bonded with his Conjunx, without his knowledge or consent. He would eviscerate his double. Wait, the static. 

“You are saying the static I and Cosmos feel is this new Bond. With your world’s version of me?” He pressed close to the static in his spark. Not pulling, not daring to touch this interloper in their Bond. But feeling the buzz of static there. Disgusting.

Ratchet nodded, “I believe that static is what your spark feels when connecting with a spark spinning on a different frequency. Our sparks spin at a different speed than yours do, resulting in different colour energon and not being able to fully connect while merging.”

“That makes sense,” Arcee spoke up. “My bond with Aileron feels like static, and our medic told us it was because of the different spark frequencies between Camiens and Cybertronians.” She looked interested. “However we can fully connect, it just requires deeper, longer merges.” 

Frenzy turbowolf whistled at her, and she smirked at him. Soundwave ignored them, and was lost in thought again.

“Would I be able to feel if he merges with Cosmos?” His question brought everyone to stillness. The Autobots looked disturbed while his Cassettes and Thundercracker had thoughtful looks.

“Cosmos would never want to merge with him!” The young yellow mech protested. He looked the most troubled over this thought.

The small blue mech looked distantly angry. Their servos wrapped themselves around their chassis as if to protect it from being pried open. “Sometimes,” they whispered, optics distant, “It’s not about if they want to merge or not, but if the attacker does.”

__________________  
Cosmos couldn’t feel the needle enter his lines, injecting him more with whatever Pit created drug they used, mainly because his sensor net was still offline. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t imagine it being forced into him.

His vision and motor skills haven’t returned, and he knew with this new dose they wouldn’t for a while. His limbs were getting heavy again, and if he didn’t focus fully on trying to move them, he briefly forgot they were even there. 

He _could_ feel his spark though. The way it’s frantic spinning was slowing as the drug affected more and more of his processor. With every slowing pulse of his spark he could feel his limbs getting heavier and heavier with his mind getting slower, fuzzier and filled with static. There was something he needed to remember about the static. Something important he needed to remember. But, when he tried to figure out what it was, he found he could no longer remember what he was even trying to remember in the first place.

So, instead, he tried to move his helm around, but forgot how to. It seems like, just like the rest of his limbs, it was no longer be a part of his frame. 

No longer a part of _him_.

“... New dose taking effect… should be willing… going to leave… refuel with Breakdown… on call if needed… speak with Lord Megatron… break him!”

A red blur flickered in sight but Cosmos found he didn’t care. Too busy trying to remember what it felt like to move a limb, did he always not have them? What was he if he didn’t have servos? Did a helm count as a limb? Oh look, the lights above him could turn off if he moved his optics.

“... me to what!... turning on the sensor net… dangerous with his injured spark… levels could kill him!... Lord Megatron wants… I understand he left him to you… the drug doesn’t eliminate pain!... fine, whatever, you can… full responsibility… it’s starting back up… leaving now, don’t comm. me when he…” 

If he closed one optic and then opened it to shut his other one, he found out that the light source above him moved slightly to the left and right. Almost like it was dancing! 

He kept doing that for a while, getting lost in the novel sensation of being able to control at least one part of his body. When suddenly he _felt_ something slide up the side of his chassis. He didn’t have the motor controls to shake it off, or inch away, so his frame just spasmed instead.

He didn’t want to be touched, he couldn’t feel his limbs and that meant he didn’t want to be touched. “Nuuuuhhhhh,” he moaned, staticky and loopy and still not fully aware of what’s going on but following his instincts. And his instincts said that touching was a no go.

Wait. He could _feel_.

Static was arching up his frame and bubbling out of his vocalizer. Wherever the static was, that thin, solid, _touch_ followed, either in its wake or with the static acting as precursor announcing the touch’s path. It trailed up the top of his thigh (oh look, he had limbs again!), plucked at some wires tucked not-so-safely in the large transformation seam at his hip, briefly dipping into the slots of his large yellow vents under his chassis, _pressing_ the centre of this chassis where his spark was (when did his spark chamber close?), sending an extra pulse of static racing through his frame, before gripping the sides of the mask protecting his faceplates.

The whole time he tried to shake off the _touch_ , but even though he could _feel_ now, the drug made it so he couldn’t _move_. So at most, he just shuddered and spasmed under that trailing touch.

He couldn’t see, the sight that made him so useful as a spy for the Autobots was still unfocused as his optics were blow too wide. Letting in too much light, not able to shutter and focus properly to distinguish a face in the shadow that loomed over him. Gripping him.

The fingers, and that must have been what was causing that _touch_ , found the manual release for his face mask on the side of his helm. With a click and hiss that he felt more than heard, the mask that covered his olfactory sensor and mouth was being removed and tossed to the floor. Those quick, staticky figers drifted up, and Cosmos felt another click and the light blue haze he was used to seeing was removed. Did the shadow remove his visor?

He tried struggling again, to no avail. His limbs still felt so _heavy_ and he didn’t want to be touched but he couldn’t even work his body into a proper panic, his spark his spinning sluggishly in a static haze.

The shadow loomed over him even more, blocking out all the light behind it. He felt pressure all along the lower half of his frame, like something was laying on top of him, suppressing the twitches his frame was making in the mimi’s effort to move.

Those fingers were back at his mouth, some tracing his lip plates and the others brushing around one of his exposed optics. The shadow leaned in, and with it this close there was no way he couldn’t hear the mash-up of recorded voices say:

“ _My Pretty Little Spaceship_.”  
_________________

Ratchet looked tired. “I’m not a spark expert, but I don’t see how this situation would be any different than a Trine Bond with a new member to an existing pair. Theoretically, you should be able to feel it if, Primus forbid, if a merge does take place. Your and Cosmos’ sparks are intertwined, not fully yet as the settling period hasn’t finished, but still enough that you both should feel the other’s spark activity.”

Thundercracker gave a thoughtful frown. “I thought a Conjux Bond was different than a Trine Bond? My Bond with Skywarp always felt different from Starscream, even after the ‘Incident’.”

Rewind perked up. “Actually, I got a bunch of recordings on mechs talking about their different types of Bonds. First Aid and the Protectobots about their Gestalt Bond, Blaster about his Host Bonds with mechs he sparked compared to those he ‘adopted’, Cyclonus talking about his two different Trine Bonds with ground frames included, Nautica and Velocity told me all about how Camien Amica Bonds feel different than Cybertronian ones. I even got Rodimus to tell me how the Matrix erased all his Bonds when it merged with him, and how when he went about recreating them, they felt more intense than before.” The little mini looked excited, and didn’t seem to recognize the bored looks of his Cassettes or the awed looks from this strange Autobots.

“What’s the point of all of this, nerd?” Rumble droned out. Soundwave was silently agreeing with his Cassette. None of this sounded important or related to his question or getting Cosmos back to him. 

“What I’m _saying_ , is that I have almost five million years worth of information on different types of Bonds, and how they all feel unique compared to each other. So we don’t have any information on interdimensional Bonds. Besides the static of the added spark, you might not feel anything at all. For all we know, as soon as we take Cosmos out of this world, the Bond may even snap.” Rewind shrugged. 

Soundwave flinched minutely thinking about Cosmos having to deal with a snapped Bond. He should see if Rest-Q will take up his offer on staying in one of the spare berthrooms aboard the Sanctuary. Cosmos’ spark will need the extra vigilance if he has to deal with a snapped Bond, even if it is a shallow one. 

Ratchet paled. “I don’t think Cosmos could handle a snapped spark Bond at the moment.” He frowned, “Would it be smart to send him back if there is the chance the Bond will snap?” 

Soundwave growled. “I am not sharing my spark with a parasite.”

Arcee made a dismissive sound. “If Cosmos survived the transport here by focusing on a Bond, like you said, then just merge with him before we leave.” She rolled her optics at the thoughtful tilt of Soundwave’s helm. “If your Bond is stronger than this new one he made here to survive, then he should be able to hold out until we get a medic to look him over once we get him home.”

The group of mechs all looked at her, considering. Ratchet frown deepened. “I’m not sure that’s how Bonds work… but it is the safest idea we have. Is there a way you can have this Rest-Q medic come here before he leaves? He would know Cosmos’ medical history the best and I would trust his opinion on if he thinks Cosmos can handle all this stress.”

Arcee shrugged. “I’ll send the request over. Now, how are we going to get Cosmos back? You said he was being held on the Nemesis?”

Optimus nodded gravely, and Soundwave fought an irrational wave of irritation just looking at the bot. How dare this leader lose someone he was supposed to protect, especially with their numbers so small. This team was composed of less than ten soldiers at most, a miniscule amount when compared to the dozens of divisions a leader of the Autobots was supposed to lead during the war. 

“The Decepticon flagship. It’s shields are impressive, making sure to thwart any and all attempts we make at tracking it’s location. We have never been able to breach the shield so far, meaning it’s location is currently unknown.” There were grumbles of annoyance among the Cassettes and it radiated in his spark over their Bond. Nothing was ‘unknown’ to them, they were the best spys on Cybertron, and Soundwave felt pride at those thoughts.

Ravage waved her tail in dismissal. “No need to worry, we’ll find it before the cycle is up. What are we looking at in terms of its occupants? It’s the flagship, so we must be looking at the big players and plan accordingly. Soundwave and us, obviously, but who else is there? Megatron; Starscream and his Trine, along with the majority of the air force; Shockwave with the science division; the Constructicons probably, Hook’s medical training is valuable on top of their collective firepower. What about any Phase Sixers?” She grimaced, “Clearly the DJD aren’t on board as you all are still functioning, thank the stars about that. Should we request just Rodimus’ little team or call up Starscream to send those Elite Guard members he so graciously offered.”

Thundercracker spoke up. “What about the Triple Changers? Astrotrain and Blitzwing tended to stay close at hand in case Megatron needed a quick getaway. In that case we might need more fliers. Cyclonus and Whirl can do a lot of damage, but we might need more fliers to hunt them down if anyone tries to escape.”

“Is Galvatron and his forces there? I don’t know if Cyclonus would be quite willing to fight if his old leader is out and about. Has Deadlock switched sides yet? ‘Cause that’ll cause a lot of problems for Rodimus and our team if Deadlock is there.” Rewind tapped a pede on the stone floor in thought.

Optimus shook his helm slowly. “No. The only Decepticons aboard the Nemesis are Megatron, Soundwave with Laserbeak, Starscream, Arachnid, with Knockout and his assistant Breakdown. The rest of the Decepticons are scattered across the stars along with the Autobot forces.”

There was a stretch of silence. Soundwave couldn’t wrap his processor around what Optimus told him. “Seven, there are _seven_ Decepticons running the flagship.” How-- why-- “If there are _seven_ Decepticons in total, what have you all been doing?”

The green bot grumped and Soundwave turned incredulously towards him. “Yeah, sure, there aren’t a lot of actual ‘Cons, but the rest of their forces are filled out with hundreds of Vehicons and Eradicons. Hard to smash in a ‘Con when you gotta wade through a bunch of annoying slagheaps.” 

Lazerbeak and Buzzsaw started squawking in laughter and Soundwave felt his annoyance peak. No wonder Cosmos got kidnapped, this whole team was pathetic.

“Drones. You all are being stopped by a bunch of sparkless drones?!” Buzzsaw shrieked, and almost fell off of Soundwave’s shoulder he was shaking so much with laughter. 

Laserbeak was delighted, she loved nothing more than a group of idiots to heckle. “Boss, what if after we rescue the Green Damsel in Distress, we take over this world. Clearly if Optimus Prime and a team of his best fighters can’t beat a bunch of sparkless scrap it should be sparkling play!” The comment made the Autobots tense. 

Thundercracker was frowning, ignoring the suddenly hostile feeling in the air as the Cassettes were heckling. “Wait, so it’s _just_ Starscream? Skywarp and my double aren’t there? And none of these brats except for Laserbeak? What happened? ‘Cause I know if anything happened to me or ‘Warp, Screamer would actually lose his marbles.” 

“Who cares.” Arcee sounded annoyed and dismissive. “Clearly, we should be doing this world a favour by eliminating any ‘Cons or,” she sneered, “Drones we come across rescuing Cosmos. Since they can’t handle some easy competition.” 

The smaller blue Autobot bristled and aggressively snapped back at Arcee, but Soundwave has moved on from caring about them anymore. Clearly they were all idiots or too _soft_ to kill a couple of their enemies. 

He looked around their meger base, hoping to look for evidence that Cosmos was actually here. He knew his partner wasn’t actually a fighter, as snarky as he was, so he would surely have fit in well with this small group.

There was a small area off to the side, that housed some human looking objects. A small entertainment device, a human couch, a small box that most likely held organic fuel, and minor useless objects strewn across the floor of the area. There must be other humans here then, since Soundwave knew from personal experience that Marissa was incredibly neat. A trait he admired her for.

A quick glance up showed that the base was degrading. Small bits of metal were missing from some of the support beams, and Soundwave felt his optics widening in surprise as he recognized the evidence of a _scraplet infestation_. He wanted to rub at his temples and knock back the bottle of Polyhexian highgrade he had stashed away in his habsuite. The amount of incompetence he kept finding was staggering. He was pretty sure that Rodimus and his joke of a crew got more done towards their impossible quest than these idiots got towards ended their civil war. 

Seven Decepticons against maybe six Autobots. Some civil war, it wouldn’t even be an effort to end it for them. Cosmos would probably like that. However, Soundwave wasn't sure if these Autobots would even be able to keep their peace if he ended it for them. But, he knew that if the Decepticons of this world weren’t just eradicating this little team, they must not be all that competent either. They had a Cybertronian flagship at their disposal, on top of an army of drones, while there were just a handful of Autobots in a cave with human tech.

Pathetic, he wanted his Conjunx and to go home and forget about this helmache of a place.

Suddenly, as clear as if it was whispered right in his audial, he heard, “ _Soundwave… please… don’t_.”

He stood ramrod straight and twisted around to look at the direction of that voice. _That_ voice. It was more staticky than he was used to hearing, and a lot more slurred. Most likely drugged, maybe in pain, since he was begging. Rage filled his spark, and he had half a mind to sink his digits into that static film over the spark Bond and rip it off. 

“Bossbot? You ok?” Buzzsaw shifted on his shoulder, while Laserbeak shuffled her wings, ready to fly. He could feel Rumble and Frenzy behind him, defending his exposed back while Ravage sat straighter, ready to strike. The teasing amusement his Cassettes were feeling was completely gone, replaced with a determined eagerness.

Soundwave did some quick calculations in his head. “Arcee, notify Rodimus and his team we’re prepared for any back up he wants to provide. Give him these coordinates, I know where Cosmos is.”  
__________

There was a vicious sort of pleasure seeing this little Autobot pinned beneath him. 

Soundwave still didn’t fully understand _why_ he was so obsessed with this little spaceship, but after the thrill of the chase, the pleasure of capturing what was making his spark flutter, having it completely at his will, he was beginning to understand why another version of himself would bother Bonding to an Autobot. He now understood why Lord Megatron kept the useless seeker Starscream around, just for the raw, savage knowing that this weaker being was completely _his_.

The Autobot shuddered again, sending wonderful sparks of pleasure dancing up his frame wherever they made contact. It has been so long since Soundwave felt any positive emotions, for so long he’s been coasting on the motions of life since all but one of his Cassettes died. Since anyone he’s had a close friendship either died, was lost, or changed so much Soundwave doesn’t even recognize them anymore. He spent so long just functioning for an ideal moving further and further from his reach with every passing day.

He forgot how good it felt to _feel good_. He forgot that he was fighting for the rights that he no longer thought of, no longer desired.

Not until now. 

He remembered the wonderful rebellious thrill that thrummed in his spark when he, a disposable class mech, thought of as nothing more than a ‘drone maker’ formed an Amica Bond with a miner turned gladiator. Forgot how love would fill his spark until it felt like it would burst, just from watching his sparklets play and chase each other in the safety of Decepticon hideouts, no need to fear of acting with too much emotion for ‘drones.’

All these forgotten feelings, all these forgotten memories and thoughts. All because of his little spaceship. _His_ little Autobot.

He wasn’t going to lose this one, not like he lost everything, no, every _one_ else. This little Autobot, he was _his_ and Soundwave wasn’t going to lose this pocket of happiness now, after being starved for it for so _long_.

He traced his digits all along the mech’s face, memorizing the feel of the soft, plump lips. How the rounded metal of his cheeks would dip if he pressed _just right_ as if they were like a little bead of water about to burst. How _blue_ his optics were, the shade a little softer and tinged with the lightest flecks of pink around the edges-- probably the reason he wears a visor-- which reminded Soundwave _so much_ of Megatronus’ optics before he had them changed to the sturdy, royal, red he had now as Lord Megatron.

He remembers when Knockout exposed that matching spark, how the blue was so brilliant it burned white in the centre, with the red wisps twisting near the edges. When he first saw it, he didn’t notice how weak it fluttered, how it flared with too many tendrils and prominences, broadcasting to anyone who saw that this spark was too loose, not nearly as coiled around it’s core as it should be to be considered healthy. All Soundwave thought of when he first saw it, was how pretty it would look merged with his own violet and royal yellow spark.

“Soundwave…. please… don’t…” A weak staticky sputter broke though his thoughts. 

The digits on his one servo, which he realized were digging into the major transformation seam on the shuttle’s chassis as if to pry it open, shot up to his lips. They pressed, aching to feel how his name feels, and if it feels just as intoxicating as when he heard it.

“ _Again_.” The recording he used was Lord Megatron’s voice, brisk, demanding, and firm, leaving no room for refusal. The shuttle shuddered under him again, his optin blown wide and flickering around in fear. Seeing that made some deep part of Soundwave’s coding croon, feeding off the power this little shuttle was giving him. 

“S-Soundwave,” He gasped, “Don’t… hurts-s… stop.” 

Soundwave’s vents gave a quite, pleased rumble. He loved the way his name feels on those lips, loved the desperation that caused the stuttering on the first sound. 

Soundwave was going to learn everything he could about this Autobot, know him inside and out, before he finally claimed that spark for his own. This Autobot would be his, fully completely, willinging by the time he was done with him. He would work something out with Lord Megatron in private, somehow get his Lord to allow him to keep the little shuttle.

He slid one of his uplink cables out, and attached it firmly to the side of the shuttle’s helm. The shuttle twitched, spasmed, giving a pathetic attempt to shake him off, making Soundwave feel amused at the weak attempt. 

He forced the hack, ripping through the surprisingly decent firewalls. It didn’t matter how good they were, the only bots that gave Soundwave a hard time were the Autobot Jazz and his minions, and they were scattered, so breaking this little Autobot’s defences was like sparkling’s play. 

Easy, what should he look at first? Memory files? Personality traits? Look through personal files and notes? Force open his subspace and dig through what he carries on himself?

Before Soundwave could choose, a memory file pushed its way to the forefront, playing automatically.

It was a flash of movement, a boxy blue mech with a red visor leaning possessively over him. No, it wasn’t possessively, the way his servos gently traced his face was much too sweet. The glint of that visor was much too adoring to be possessive.

Before Soundwave could be furious over this little shuttle making him watch another bot touch him, the image switched. Now, there was a large crowd, mechs of all shapes and sizes in a bar like room, laughing and chatting. Around him was a bunch of smaller mechs, Cassette sized with either mech frames or mechanimal ones. Soundwave was confused, these little mechs were joking around, the words lost but the feeling was content, happy, their smiles were teasing. Someone called the shuttle’s name and they both turned as one. 

Behind them was boxy blue mech once more, but Soundwave didn’t care about that, what made him feel as if he was shot point black in the chest was who was at his pedes.

Ravage. The sleek black cy-cougar glided by the mech’s pedes, as if they belonged there. Soundwave felt himself reaching for her, his longest friend, whose death ruined him. A jolt went through him at a realization. This blue mech, this must be the other Soundwave, the one who is Conjunx’d to the Autobot. So that must mean…

He spun around, drinking in the sight of these little Cassettes, different version of mechs he loved so dearly and lost so quickly. Frenzy, Rumble, Buzzsaw, Ravage, and little Laserbeak, teasing and laughing with her twin.

Once again the memory swirled away and Soundwave felt like crying. NO! They were right there! Go back! He needs to see them alive and happy once more!

The memories swirled together, quick but achingly long at the same time. Flashes of Autobots, of warfare, of funerals, of drinking parties, vast swaths of space, a Bonding ceremony, a medical checkup, relaxing on a berth reading a magazine-pad, playing with a small white and red drone. The images blurred by so quickly but Soundwave felt every power burst of emotion, of love and devotion, of pain and grief, of embarrassment and mischief, they all hit him like baster going off again, and again, and again.

He stumbled out of the hack, optics resetting quickly as he took in the bright medbay lights. Soundwave pushed himself away from the mini, shocked and shaking slightly from what he saw, from what he _felt_. It was too much at once, too much.

He took another step back, just watching the drugged Autobot with a new calculating look. Clearly he let his emotions run away from him, weak as he was this Autobot was still an enemy. He wouldn’t be so careless next time.

His comm. burst to life and, unfortunately, Starscream’s unpleasant voice squwaked in his audial. “ _Soundwave! Where are you? We are under attack, stop playing with your little pet and help us!_ ” 

A wave of irritation flooded through him, but he sent back an affirming ping. It was probably the Autobots, foolishly trying to take what was _his_.

Soundwave briskly turned around and left the medbay, locking in with a wave of his servo as he started down the hall. His little Spaceship wasn’t leaving him, not now.  
___________

It was quiet. After Soundwave left-- and that’s who the shadow was, the cruel, silent version of a loved one-- the room Cosmos was in, he was alone.

It was a blessing to be alone, it gave him time to try and work through the drug. He still couldn’t see, and his hearing was spotty at best because the buzzing the lights were giving off went silent at irregular intervals, and trying to regain any motion of his limbs was a nightmare. But it was better than the alternative.

He mostly kept his optics turned off, since they were useless, and tried to make sense of some of his internal reports on his HUD. Making out the glyphs took a long time, it felt like he spent orns trying to jump start his processor into deciphering the first line. He soon just gave up and tried to figure out the problem from what he could feel on through his sensor net, however, with his pain receptors still turned off that didn’t really help. 

Primus, his processor was swimming though, and he felt like his whole frame was rocking and shuttering still. Maybe some of his sensor net was damaged from whatever Knockout was doing to him, or the shaking was a side effect of the drugs.

The static running though his lines fizzed brighter, making him shudder again, making him feel the ghost of the _touch_ along his frame. Pit, he wished he could just flush whatever this drug was out of his system, so he could _focus_. Did he have enough fuel and mental ability to run a defrag and a system purge? Where on his HUD was his fuel gauge…

Oh, he had 48% left in his tanks. That… seemed really low, what did he have before being brought on board? He knew he had taken some damage before being taken to the ‘Con base, but he didn’t think 48% was the right percentage. Did he lose more energon while Knockout was doing Primus knows what to him? Did the medic take some? Cosmos didn’t think so, for some reason his mind was stuck on the concept that these ‘Cons couldn’t drink his type of energon.

Wait, do these ‘Cons even drink other mechs’ energon? He knew some bots during the war that would drink from corpses when they were low on fuel, but he had a hard time imagining these sleek looking bots doing that, even this Soundwave. 

This world’s Megatron would do it though, he had the dentae for it.

Primus, his processor was making him rock again, light he was caught in some turbulent solar wind. Normally that wouldn’t make him nauseous, but paired with whatever drugs were in his system it made him want to purge.

Maybe purging would be good, help get that nasty slag out of his system. But it would also empty more from his tanks, and he didn’t think he would last long if he did that. Did Ratchet still have that extra cube Cosmos brought over in his subspace? He hoped he didn’t that way the shuttle could refuel once he was put in a proper cell. He didn’t really see bots here use their subspace pockets for storage, so maybe they would forget to lock his.

“Cosmos?... you?” A small voice fluttered in his audials, startling him slightly. With a huge effort he onlined his optics, flinched at the jarring brightness of the overhead lights. 

“Nughhh.” He moaned, flopping his helm over to the side. He couldn’t see any mech shaped shadows. He tried to reboot his optic sensors to get some clarity, to try and focus more. It helped a little bit, but a lot of things were still blurry and shadowed.

“--Mos! Don’t think… us, Ravage can you… Buzzsaw don’t just!... ” Sound flitted in and out of his audials, either broken or still shutting off at random times. Cosmos groaned again, rolling his optics and helm around to try and catch where that voice was. They mentioned something important, names he knew.

“Buzzsaw? Ravage?” The mini murmured, those were the Cassettes. He didn’t see them here, and this Soundwave never mentioned them. Did they finally come and check to see what their host brought back to base? Or did the mech send them to watch over him, to make sure he didn’t escape?

The surgery table shuttered a little as something was placed right beside his right strut. He couldn’t hear the impact, but felt it all the same. Cosmos squirmed, hoping that whoever was there didn’t touch him. 

A shadow crept into his line of sight, and two red blurs stared down at him. “... Awake, but not fully aware… drugged him.” The voice was familiar, smooth and firm, something that made him think of video calls in Soundwave habsuite aboard the Sanctuary, and of tiny mech-animal shaped energon gummies. 

“... give Skids our location… think we can lift him out of here…” Something _touched_ his exposed faceplate and Cosmos shuddered and twisted his helm away.

“Nooo… S’op, please no more.” Cosmos felt his frame shake as panic finally started to swirl sluggishly in his spark. 

“Shh, Cosmos shh… hurt you.” The shadow with red optics got closer and there was a light puff of air brushing against his helm. “...Bruised dermas… scratches and light paint transfers… faceplates and seams… evidence of… be fine.” The shadow moved away slightly, but not fully out of view. “Saw comm. Soundwave… extraction.”

Cosmos thrashed, bumping into something solid beside him. “No! No Soundwave, please! No more static, no more _touching._ ” The solid thing beside him hunkered down and the shadow moved fully into view again, blocking out the light. 

There was a light growling sound, which would start and stop as his audials flickered on and off. It was almost like the steady thrum of an engine, but it had a soothing effect. Because the presence was pressed up beside his tied down frame, Cosmos could feel the vibrations that were emitting from it. He could feel the rumble in his spark, dissipating some of the static and lulling his spark’s spinning back into a calm state once again.

Cosmos lost a little time, distracted by the soothing sensation. He would pick up bits and pieces of mechs speaking over him again, but he couldn’t be bothered to listen. They weren’t hurting him and he was so tired. With the static not buzzing _everywhere_ anymore, Cosmos found himself so tired. When was the last time he recharged? Or refuelled? Primus he wanted to refuel.

There was a large thud, startling Cosmos out of his doze. He was surprised even further that his limbs weren’t tied down, granting him full mobility. They were still heavy, but not heavy enough to cause problems moving. The newest drug dose must be wearing off. How long was he here for then?

Light pedesteps were echoing throughout the room, and with a groan Cosmos looked up, and found it was easier to hold his helm up for a few kliks. There was a mech, well a blurry looking mech, as his sight was getting better but not fully back. His plating was blue in the medbay lights and there was something familiar about blue plating and the doorwings he could barely make out from behind him.

“There you are, Skids! You sure took your time getting here, how are the others? No problems?” A higher voice sounded out near his pedes. It was also familiar and Cosmos realized his audials weren’t cutting in and out anymore. 

“Nope!” The blue mech, Skids, had a smile in his voice. “This ship is like a maze though and I had to sneak around some cameras in the vents. Gotta give it to these ‘Cons, they do have nice security.” 

There was a scoff right beside Cosmos helm, making the mini turn towards it in a daze. A sleek black cy-cougar was seated primly beside Cosmos on the examination table. “Please, these ‘Cons wouldn’t know a good security system if it was right in front of them. We walked through the halls and no one stopped us. A disgrace, I’m offended for them really.”

Cosmos restarted his optics a few more times. “Ravage… is that you? With Skids?” His processor couldn’t come up with a good enough reason for why they were together. Or here for that matter.

That higher voice spoke up from the floor, and a white helm shape appeared by his pede. “And Rewind! Oh, and Buzzsaw too, I guess. But he’s watching the hall and looking out for the rest of the Jerk Squad.” Ravage puffed a laugh in Cosmos audial.

“The… Jerk Squad?” He asked, still a little confused.

Ravaged brushed against Cosmos as she leapt down from the examination table. “Unfortunately, the rest of the short-circuits I’m forced to share a docking station with. Come, we have to meet up with the others at the rendezvous point, I’ve already informed the others to head that way instead.”

“Alright, Cosmos, you heard the Boss Bot, up we get!” With that Skids reached over and lifted Cosmos up, one servo supporting his struts and the other supporting his spinal strut. After a klik of adjusting to the new weight, and while Cosmos tried not to purge at the sudden movement, Skids moved towards the hall. 

Cosmos’ optics flickered as he stared at the quickly vanishing medbay doors behind them. He wanted to ask how they unlocked them, but knew there was no lock that Ravage and her siblings couldn’t open.

A yellow and black blur rushed past, “I see the green, space frisbee woke up, good! Boss was getting worried! Beaky already reported that he, Arcee, and Rodimus’ ground troops have worked through most of the drones and downed that ambassador’s double’s Conjunx, as well as that freaky spider lady that was lurking in the lower levels. The only major players left for them are Boss’ double and that fragged up version of Megs. Thunders, Cyclonus and that insane heli have downed almost all of the armada and are trying to hunt down this world’s Starscream.”

Rewind, from where he must have been jogging to keep up with the others, huffed. “Starscream is a worm no matter the version, I doubt they’ll find him. The big problem is Megs and his silent shadow. Did you hear anything about our casualties?” 

Buzzsaw gave a cackle. “They can’t touch us! Rodimus and Thunderclash have minor wounds at best, and Drift got grazed by that spider lady, but nothing will stop that bucket of crazy from hurting his ‘Prime’.” There was a tone of mocking there, but Cosmos was lost in the flow of information. So many bots were here.

“How did… why are you all here?” 

Skids tightened his grip, and gave him a blinding smile. “You might not be a current member, but the Lost Light has a policy that no mech is left behind! That means you too!” His smile got softer. “You saved my aft during that whole Overlord debacle, and I’m not about to let something like that slide.”

Rewind laughed. “Cyclonus said he owed you a drink, so helping rescue you from an alternate dimension should clear up his debt. I know Tailgate, Swerve, and I aren’t about to let another mini crewmate suffer! Remember Mini Mondays?”

Cosmos gave a weak sputter of a laugh, “Where we all had energon on a table our height and size? And bitched about how annoying tall mechs were?” 

“Yeah! That’s a lifetime membership bud! Doesn’t matter if you left us for a tall ‘Con! The Shorty Squad sticks together!”

Buzzsaw was squawking with laughter, “Incoming!” And then he shot forward and dove at two dark minis coming out of a side hallway ahead of their group.

“Hey! Watch it BuzzButt! We’re carrying precious cargo!” One of them groused. They both easily kept up with Skids and the others.

“Yeah, you won’t believe the slag they just leave laying around in some display cases! Like, the locks on those things were garbage! Anyone could just go in there and take stuff!” Rumble gave a blinding smile, and Cosmos’ spark warmed seeing the twins happy and healthy. 

Ravage sounded amused. “So what did you take? Did you find that mask piece Prime asked for?”

“That and so much more! I think we could sell some of this stuff to Swindle for a great price!” Frenzy laughed.

The sound of blaster fire was loud here, and the floor underneath them rocked violently, making Skids stumble to keep his grip on Cosmos. “We must be getting close to the main fight. Rewind, can you comm. That Autobot base for a ground bridge in five Earth minutes?” Skids asked. 

Ravage bounded off. “I’ll go get the rest of the Crew, Buzzsaw comm. Laserbeak and tell her to get Rodimus to bring in our air force.”

She disappeared into one of the automatic doors down the hall, the blaster fire even louder when it swung open. Before it swooshed shut again, Cosmos could barely make out a pink figure leaping at a towering grey mech shape.

There was a beat of muffled fighting, and then Skids gently rested Cosmos onto his shakey pedes. He rested a steadying servo onto his shoulder as the shuttle leaned against the wall.

“How you feeling Shuttlebutt?” Rumble leaned up close, peering up at his face. “Where’s your mask and visor?”

Cosmos reset his optics. He slowly lifted a servo up to his face and startled when his digits touched his bare faceplates. “Oh. I didn’t know… he must have taken them off, I don’t really remember when…” The whole time in that medbay felt like a fuzzy dream, not real even though he was still aboard the ship, and still feeling the effects of that drug. What else could that Soundwave have done that he doesn’t remember? Or what this Knockout did? Static buzzed around his chest as his spark gave a thrum of anxiety. 

“Hey, hey, it’s ok Cosmos. We’ll get you new ones when we get back.” Rewind slid up to him, putting a servo over his own shaking, red ones. The shuttle didn’t even notice he was shaking. “Come on, take a deep vent. Ratchet will look over you when we get back to base, make a nice list of things to do so you look in top shape again. I’m sure Soundwave will make sure everything goes well at home too.”

Cosmos flinched at the name, pulling his servos away, invents coming a little sharper. He clutched at his chest, where the static bloomed. “He’s in my spark! The static, does Soundwave know-- I didn’t know, I don’t know what he did but I can feel him! He knows where I am, he’s been _pulling_ and I thought it was my-- but it was _him_.” He gasped.

Frenzy and Rumble snarled, and Buzzsaw, who was now resting on Skids’ shoulder, hissed. Skids looked concerned but confused, and Rewind looked sick.

“Hey, Cosmos, I need you to answer me, ok? Be honest, did that other Soundwave merge with you?” Rewind asked, ignoring the gasp of shock from Skids.

Cosmos shook his helm, hard enough that he was getting dizzy and wanted to purge. “No, Primus no. He-- he wanted to, but he never did. Think he wanted to know if I was safe first.” Cosmos shuddered, “Ambassador Knockout, his double, he-- he was looking at my spark, but I don’t think they did anything else but open the chamber. Megatron was talking about _spark experiments_ before they brought me to that medbay.” That caused a whole round of angry snarls, no mech on Cybertron would condone spark experiments. “They drugged me after that, I don’t remember anything right, but I think, I think it was just invasive scans and tests, nothing, nothing too bad?”

Buzzsaw gave an angry grumble, “Well, this Ratchet will look you over, but I’m making sure Soundwave calls up that Rest-Q fool to look you over.”

“Yeah, the mech is way too soft, but at least he knows what he’s doing.” Frenzy grumbled. “Don’t worry, Boss Bot will look after you, Frisbee.”

“I’ll comm. him right now, tell him to get a few good shots on that creeper double of his for you.” Rumble agreed. 

The door where Ravage ran through swooshed open again, sending all the bots besides Cosmos into battle stances, blasters ready. Instead of some enemy, it was just Rodimus, followed by Thunderclash, Drift, Laserbeak, Chromedome, Tailgate, Riptide, Ravage, Arcee, and _Soundwave_.

Cosmos’ spark thudded in his chassis at the sight of his Conjunx. Primus it’s been so long, and even splashed with the strange blue energon of this world, he looked divine.

Soundwave shoved past the Autobots in front of him until he was within touching distance. “ _Cosmos_.” He breathed, and the shuttle felt like crying all of a sudden. He tried to stand up, and suddenly Soundwave was _there _holding his servo and lending him the strength to rise.__

__“This is sweet and all, and it’s so nice to see you’re ok Cosmos, but we really gotta go _now._ ” Rodimus bulldozed in, with the same amount of tact as always. Drift hissed a soft “ _Rodimus, let them have this_ ” in his Prime and Amica’s audial._ _

__A large burst of light swirled to life near their group, oh and how wonderful Soundwave looked with the green and white lights reflecting off his plating._ _

__Soundwave bent down and scooped up Cosmos in his arms. He felt so much more secure and protected than he did in Skids’ arms just a few kliks ago._ _

__Soundwave leaned close, until his helm was resting on Cosmos’. “Oh, how I’ve missed you, Little Autobot.” Just hearing that, hearing the pet name spoken with so much love made Cosmos finally let the coolant mist up his optics._ _

__“Oh, Soundy.” Cosmos reached up to cup his helm. “I knew you’d come, but I missed you every day we were apart.”_ _

__Rodimus was ushering them into the ground bridge. “Ok ok, we all missed each other, now _please_ get in the portal! Cyclonus’s team already were extracted and are waiting for us at the base and he’ll actually kick my aft if Tailgate isn’t in his sights in the next klik so _let’s go please_!” _ _

__There was a weak round of chuckles at Rodimus’ complaining, and Tailgate was skipping into the groundbridge to be with his own Conjunx and Amica, with Rewind and Chromedome following close behind. More bots filed in, and it soon Sounwave was walking them towards it. Cosmos looked behind Soundwave’s shoulder at the last klik, expecting to see the other Soundwave, or one of the other ‘Cons trying to stop them. But no one came._ _

__Cosmos was fine with that, and snuggled into his Conjunx as the sight of the Decepticon ship vanished from view.  
_____________ _

__Ratchet grumbled. Most of those mechs from Cosmos’ world were still hanging around and the base was a little too crowded right now. Arcee had taken that other Tailgate aside to speak alone, but the tall purple seeker, the other Autobot mini with the camera and his tall Conjunx followed along. None of them have showed up in a while so Ratchet assumed that everything was going ok, and that he didn’t need to send in Prime._ _

__Prime, bless his spark, was looking over the crowd with optics shimmering. With this many happy bots in a single area, after just their little handful, it must have been a lot on his spark. The other Prime, Rodimus, had looked at Optimus strangely, before sharing some low words. Whatever Rodimus said must have startled him, as he reached towards his chest, where the Matrix lay. Ratchet eyed them for a bit, but the white speedster that followed Rodimus around like a pale shadow, kept sending him little smiles every time he looked over, so Ratchet decided to just focus on repairing Cosmos._ _

__The rest of the bots were just milling around the common area. Bulkhead was trying to goad the heli, apparently a Wrecker as well, as well as that pink femme into a spar. Bumblebee was chatting with the cheery blue Praxian, _Thundercracker_ which still made Ratchet’s helm spin, Marissa, and the other world’s version of Thunderclash, who looked just as charismatic and stunning as the last time Ratchet saw their version. By the look of excitement of Bee’s doorwings, and how the others were all trained on the colourful mech, Thunderclash must be telling a thrilling story._ _

__Soundwave and his brats, unfortunately, were all hanging around the medbay getting underpede. Ratchet remembered his version of Soundwave’s Cassettes from before the war, back when he, Orion, Megatronus, and Soundwave would all go out for drinks and plan for the next resistance rally. They acted like a bunch of newsparks then, play wrestling with each other, demanding stories of what the other cities were like, always begging to try the high-grade wine, and recharging in a little pile at Soundwave’s or Megatronus’ pedes._ _

__These mech… these ones were hardend by war, and discrimination, by death and suffering, and everything in between. But they were also healing in their own ways. Much too gruff from the bitlets Ratchet knew, once upon a time, but also something not half bad._ _

__Ravage refused to be moved from Cosmos’ side, silent except for emitting a low rumble from her engines. Ratchet had to admit that the rumble was helping relax Cosmos’ spark, and even seemed to boost the nanites in his systems to repair minor damage a little faster. Buzzsaw and Laserbeak were either clustered on top of monitoring devices, and questioning everything Ratchet was doing, making him either snap at the pair to shut up and let him work, or explain in a terse manner what he was doing._ _

__Frenzy and Rumble were the worst of the bunch. Either clamoring around his small medbay, making too much noise and hovering, or ‘standing guard’ over by Soundwave near the edge of the medbay, snapping at any bots that drifted too close. They were much too loud and rambunctious for a healing patient, and if it wasn’t for Soundwave’s occasional pointed look that quieted them down, Ratchet would have already physically tossed them out of the area._ _

__It was such a hassle, but Ratchet wanted to make sure Cosmos was safe to travel. So he just set to work flushing the remnants of the drug out of his systems and busted out his dent puller and some nanite gel. Most things were minor fixes, something that could be dealt with after the shuttle got home. But others, like his broken and still leaking thrusters, as well as the damage from what the hacking did to his sensors, firewalls, and processor, well, that was a little more demanding._ _

__Cosmos took it all in stride, mostly happy his senses weren’t inhibited anymore. He claimed his processor didn’t feel like it was running several dozen tasks anymore, and his limbs, while hurting from some cracked platting, didn’t feel overly heavy._ _

__Ratchet was reluctant to turn on his pain receptors, but having them off for such long periods of time were dangerous. Cosmos just flinched and winced but didn’t show any dangerous levels of pain or stress, so Ratchet figured his spark was ok. Speaking of…_ _

__“Alright, I’ve dealt with the most pressing issues at the moment, the rest is just things your medic at home can look over. The only thing remaining that I want handled is that issue with your Conjunx Bond.” He addressed this to both Cosmos and Soundwave, who has been listening intently the entire time. “I can put you up in a room for privacy, but you both need to merge. Not only has it been way too long since your last one, which is required for the Bond to settle, but I think if you do strengthen it, it will help eliminate any stress you might have from travelling.” Now he gave a pointed look at the two. “What with the ‘static’ and all.”_ _

__Cosmos frowned a little, and Ratchet was still surprised at seeing the mech’s bare face. He knew he would of had one under the extra plating and visor, but it was still a shock to see how expressive he really was._ _

__“Will the static ever go away?”_ _

__Ratchet nodded. “Absolutely. It was just a shallow Bond, like the kind that might form after an accidental merging while interfacing. It should, as it had, linger for a few weeks, but without an extra merge, should dissipate in a few more days. If not once you both get home, all that extra distance might be good for something. However! To nip any future stress, or accidental Bonding again, you need to merge so that Cosmos’ spark can recognize you as a pair. Not that I think any new accidental Bonding will happen, as it was the strain of sudden distance that caused it in the first place, but it's better to be safe than sorry.”_ _

__Ratchet helped Cosmos off the medical berth, Ravage hopping down after him. “Alright, so you both can just go over to Cosmos’ former habsuite while you do that, and don’t be afraid to comm. Me if you need anything! Or if anything strange happens!” He shooed the couple down the hall, ignoring the snickering and cat-calling from the other mechs in the room.  
___________ _

__Cosmos flushed a deep magenta at the fading, teasing, hollering of his friends and former crewmates. It’s not like they were going to _do_ anything while everyone was waiting on them! How mortifying! He tried to bury his face into his servos, but the grip on one of them stopped that. Cosmos peered up to watch as Soundwave disengaged his facial mask, an adoring smile pulling at his dermas, and bent down to reverently kiss the back of Cosmos’ servo._ _

__The shuttle felt his cheeks burn at the sight, he knew how much public affection was taboo for Decepticons, so doing that while they were barely out of the main common area made Cosmos’ spark flutter. His Cassettes didn’t even complain about the display, just swarming around them in a protective huddle._ _

__“I missed you.” Soundwave smiled, brushing another light kiss against Cosmos’ servo._ _

__Cosmos melted. “I missed you too. So, so much.”_ _

__They got to the habsuite, and with a small gesture from Soundwave, all the Cassettes stood guard outside the now locked doors._ _

__“That’s a little much, no one will bother us here, ya’know. They can go off to be with the rest of the group, we won’t be too long anyway.” Cosmos hopped up onto the berth, patting the empty space beside him._ _

__Soundwave stood silent in the middle of the room, and the way Cosmos’ sensors tingled, he must have been doing a sweep of the area. “We are in the company of unknown mechs, in an unknown environment where both of us will be vulnerable. This is all just protocol.”_ _

__Cosmos rolled his optics as Soundwave finally came over to sit beside him. “We’re safe, Soundy. No one will hurt us, and we’re surrounded by friends. Now come here, I missed you.” He sent the command to open his chest plates and expose his spark._ _

__It was a little nerve wracking, especially in regards to the most recent time his spark was laid bare before another. But the way Soundwave’s field was just pulsing with love, adoration, and awe at seeing his spark, he knew he was safe._ _

__Soundwave wasted no time in opening his spark chamber as well, and Cosmos drank in the familiar sight of his lover’s yellow and red spark. It shone like a miniature sun, with wisps of a brilliant red dancing around the edges, and Cosmos basked in its warmth for a klik._ _

__The host reached out and pulled his smaller lover close, so they were sitting thigh against thigh, torsos angled so their chests were pressed against one another, digits entwining themselves in the other’s. Cosmos had his helm resting on Soundwave’s shoulder, and the taller mech had his helm gently resting on top of his._ _

__Their sparks reached out to each other like long lost lovers, and the moment they fully connected, Cosmos sighed, frame going strutless against his Conjunx. All the stress of the past few weeks felt like they left him in one quick touch, and it was wonderful, like the best electro-pulse massage he ever had._ _

__Soundwave must have felt so too because his engines gave a content rumble at the sensation. They both just basked in the embrace, enjoying the feeling of being back with their Conjunx, their other half._ _

__Cosmos gave a pleased sigh, “I love you so much, you know that right?”_ _

__Soundwave pressed a lazy kiss to the top of the shuttle’s helm. “I love you more. I didn’t realize what losing you would do to me, but every cycle felt dreadful, and I struggled to find joy in tasks. I just kept worrying about you, how you must be in pain, how alone you must have felt. I worried to the point that I would just drift off in the middle of conversations.”_ _

__Cosmos’ laughed. “You do that already! I swear if Sky-Byte could go a single meeting without you zoning out to look at the security system or writing up mock expansion plans on the to-do lists, I think he’d actually cry from joy.”_ _

__Soundwave squeezed his servo in an affectionate manner. “He makes the meeting so dull, so I can’t be blamed. But really, I would just stop and think about you, what you would have said in a situation, or how you would have acted. I just missed having you beside me.”_ _

__“Me too,” Cosmos gave a happy rumble of his engine, sending a little pulse of love along their connected sparks. “I would spend all day talking about you to the bots here, and the humans. Told them about what a great ‘Junx you are, how caring, all about how you operate the Sanctuary in a fair and just way, how lucky I am that you took a chance on me.”_ _

__“Oh trust me, Little Autobot, I’m the lucky one. I never would have thought one such as you would find my company pleasant, let alone desirable.” He gave a pleased smile, sending a teasing lick of desire across the Bond._ _

__Cosmos squealed and shot him a reproving look. “No, I’m not doing anything while your Cassettes are waiting right outside this door, with over a dozen mechs waiting for us to go home.”_ _

__Soundwave gave a playful hum, “A shame. I would hate for mechs to think I left you unsatisfied, especially since you Autobots are so shameless when it comes to knowing everything about a mechs personal life. I wouldn’t want them to think im being a bad Conjunx.” With that he pulled his servos away and started tickling up Cosmos’ plating._ _

__The shuttle gave a peel of laughter and pulled away completely, already missing the warmth of the other spark, yet feeling better than he had in weeks. The static was hardly noticeable now, and if he wasn’t searching for it, he wouldn’t have even felt it._ _

__“Hey! I’ll have you know that just because Decepticons are a bunch of prudes, doesn’t mean some minor gossip is scandalous! No one knows everything we do in the berth.”_ _

__Soundwave stopped, a particular look on his face. He closed his chest plates and Cosmos followed. “Cosmos, who have you told about our private interactions?”_ _

__The mini rolled his optics, “‘Private interactions.’ It’s ok Soundy, you can say interfacing you know. And not a lot of mechs honestly, I know you like your privacy. Just my medics, for health reasons, but most of these mechs were at our Bonding ceremony, and know you were part of the Decepticon high command. Most Autobots figure you ‘Cons are pretty dominant and demanding in the berth, so much so that it’s a type preference. Like if you like ‘Cons, you must like getting spiked. So most just make assumptions, not that I confirm any or not.” Soundwave’s optics were wide and his cheeks were flushed with embarrassment. Cosmos squinted at him. “Sweet spark, you were the head of the intelligence department for the ‘Cons, please tell me you knew that.”_ _

__Soundwave reset his vocalizer and figited. “Well, I knew that, of course I did. I just-- I didn’t think it would still be applied _now_ and to _us_.”_ _

__Cosmos tried to stifle his laughter, which was hard when his whole face was exposed. “Oh, come on. Let’s go home, we’ve been in here long enough that most of them are probably gonna think we were fragging anyways.” He reached up to hold Soundwave’s servo, smiling as the taller mech tried to bring his blush under control. “Come on, I wanna go home.”_ _

__“I’ll take you home, Little Autobot. Let’s go.” With that, they exited the habsuite and brushed off the teasing from the Cassettes._ _

__Home, nothing is better than going home.  
____________ _

__In the empty, ruined, remains of the Nemesis, which was barely being kept afloat, Soundwave sat propped up against an energon stained wall in the command centre and thought._ _

__The flagship was in tatters, and they no longer had the mech power to repair it. They would be forced to land or else risk dropping from the sky. Their Eradicon army had only double digits now, and those numbers would continue to drop since their only medic escaped with his Conjunx as soon as it looked like they were being over run. Cowards, Soundwave made a mental note to add their designations to The List for the DJD to deal with later._ _

__Starscream, if the reports were to be believed, was shot out of the sky and presumed deactivated. Soundwave had his doubts, that glitch-rat could survive anything, and was probably hiding out on planet until things recovered. It still didn’t take away from the fact that almost all of their air force was eradicated._ _

__All their artifacts and weapons were stolen as well, Arachnid’s decapitated corpse evidence enough that nothing would stop those on their way to the ship’s treasury and armoury. Soundwave sagged against the wall in utter defeat. Everything went wrong, and he didn’t know how they were going to make up for these losses._ _

__His shuttle was also taken amidst the battle. He offlined his optics and took a steadying invent._ _

__“Soundwave, there you are.” Lord Megatron’s voice was grating. Dutifully, Soundwave reactivated his optics to look up at his Lord._ _

__He was a mess, that pink femme had stripped the armoured plating from his frame, and he was missing a few digits. There were scorch marks all over his normally lustrous grey frame from that one little flame themed mech. One of his optics was broken and deactivated. He appeared to be limping._ _

__“Come, I demand a status update on the situation, as well as who’s left.” His Lord growled, but it was weaker than normal, not nearly as menacing as he would have liked._ _

__Soundwave turned off his optics again, taking a moment to fully, and unabashedly _grieve_. Laserbeak, docked once again, sent him a weak, but supportive ping. Soundwave was pretty sure that if he lost her as well, he wouldn’t have the ability to stand up._ _

__As it was, he onlined his optics again and heaved himself up onto steady pedes. He could do this, he could ignore is injuries, ignore the losses, ignore that tingling thought in the back of his processor, the one that started after he saw the shuttles memories. A thought that said: what if there is a better way? What if what you have been doing all these years is _wrong_. What if _who_ you are following is _wrong_._ _

__Soundwave pushed all of those feelings aside and focused on the piercing gaze of his Lord._ _

__They had work to do._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We made it guys!! Its the end!!! Thanks so much for supporting me on this wild ride, every kudos and comment really motivated me to keep writing! ;333 
> 
> If you liked this fic, please feel free to check out any of my other TF fics on A03 or send some plot bunny ideas my way on Tumblr :PP I'm STILL working on Following the Tracks, so please don't worry if you follow that fic, I just really wanted to get this one done first! ;3
> 
> Thanks again for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful day!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Let me know if you have any questions or spot any mistakes! <3  
> You can also ask me things or remind me to update at youareunbearable.tumblr.com


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